LOOKING FOR NOUMENO
Performance, approx. 45 minutes
LOST AND ___________ Group Show
AVU Gallery, Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, CZ
2017
Excerpts of the performance.
Analog picture of the process.
Entrance of the gallery.
Reunion with all the participants.
Looking For Noumeno was performed in collaboration with my polish colleague and friend Anna Rutkowska.
The action is a reflection on Immanuel Kant’s noumeno, defined by the philosopher himself as the ultimate stage of reality and truth, which however remains unknowable, indescribable, unreachable to mankind. We spent 45 minutes filtering green dye from one bottle to the other, striving and struggling as if something vital had to come out of it, but nothing occurred or appeared to our eyes. The end result of this operation was essentially a vain attempt to reach something that will never be reached, an awkward action that arouses laughter in the audience precisely for its inherent meaninglessness.
The action is a reflection on Immanuel Kant’s noumeno, defined by the philosopher himself as the ultimate stage of reality and truth, which however remains unknowable, indescribable, unreachable to mankind. We spent 45 minutes filtering green dye from one bottle to the other, striving and struggling as if something vital had to come out of it, but nothing occurred or appeared to our eyes. The end result of this operation was essentially a vain attempt to reach something that will never be reached, an awkward action that arouses laughter in the audience precisely for its inherent meaninglessness.
Human helplessness may lead us to tragedy or irony: this time, we chose to take the second path.
