Seeing The Invisible

The erased, the void, the missing, the unmarked or the left-out, transparency, infinity or even nothingness, as well as the idea of emptiness in Zen Buddhism, are notions that come into mind when thinking about Invisibility. It seems that the term almost always comes along with immateriality. It embraces thus a whole area in philosophy and perception theory as it was shown in curatorial and critical thinking lately.

Transferred to the art-context though, the term invisibility is at the same time obviously a contradiction in itself: Always strongly related to visibility and only recognizable as such through its counterpart or the knowledge of it, it seems that there can´t be something invisible, except for sheer thoughts and concepts...

Already in the 1960s, invisibility was reflected on in articles, exhibitions and art works like of Robert Morris, Hans Haacke or Robert Barry, who used immaterial and thus invisible materials like steam, wind or gas. Today other immaterial concepts like gossip or rumours are being considered to be part of the invisible.

The 12 international artists choosen for this show highlight quite differently to this in sometimes metaphorical, but always very haptical ways this ambiguous invisible, reflecting at the same time on our everyday surroundings, hinging not seldom on political issues. In the sense of “hiding”, the invisible here even sometimes borders on camouflage or fake and rediscovers and redefines the classical notion of the trompe-l´oeil. Seeing the invisible is thus testing the limits and borders not only of the visible but of art itself, enriching our perception.

“Seeing The Invisible” Charif Benhelima (B) / Kristina Braein (N) / Heman Chong (SGP) / Michel de Broin (CAN) / Shin il Kim (ROK) / Lucas Lenglet (NL) / Jan Mancuska (CZ) / Conor McGrady (IRL) / Melvin Moti (NL) / Sancho Silva (P) and John Hawke, USA / Nasan Tur (D)

Seeing The Invisible
Charif Benhelima, Kristina Braein, Heman Chong, Michel de Broin, Shin il Kim, Lucas Lenglet, Jan Mancuska, Conor McGrady, Melvin Moti, Sancho Silva, John Hawke, Nasan Tur