“The peculiar property of the pure spirit is seeing, not knowing.”, wrote the poet and physician Justinus Kerner. This statement is called into question by the Berlin-based artist Ivana Franke with her project Retreat into Darkness. Towards a Phenomenology of the Unknown. Do we only see what we know? What can dislocate us from our comfortable, predefined point of view and challenge our gaze on the world?

The project Retreat into Darkness. Towards a Phenomenology of the Unknown includes an installation by artist Ivana Franke, curated by Elena Agudio, at the Schering Stiftung, along with a series of experiments to be conducted by the artist in collaboration with the vision scientist Bilge Sayim, as well as an interdisciplinary symposium and a publication. The above-mentioned are all integral parts of Ivana Franke’s artistic practice, which represents the full-fledged investigation of the limits of our perception, which is conditioned by our minds and bodies and by the environment.

https://scheringstiftung.de/en/projektraum/ivana-franke-retreat-into-darkness-towards-a-phenomenology-of-the-unknown/ (20.01.2022)