A public colloquium, April 3–5, 2023
With:
Rosie Benn, artist, Vienna
Marcel Bleuler, art researcher, Zurich
Ellie Kyungran Heo, artist, London and Seoul
Laura von Niederhäusern, artist, Zurich
Noemi Somalvico, novelist, Bern
Ji Yun Park, artist, Hong Kong and Zurich
Barbara Preisig, art historian and art critique, Zurich
Jessica Ullrich, art historian, Munster and Berlin
Feixuan Xu, anthropologist, London and Hong Kong
Bo Zheng, artist, Hong Kong
In recent years, there have been ongoing discussions about moving beyond anthropocentrism to find more pertinent ways to interact with the more-than-human world. Despite our best endeavors, our human perspective and language-based communication have limitations. At the same time, these obstacles invite us to embrace other forms of relating to the more-than-human.
This two-day colloquium focused on works of art, literature, and film that are believed to make embodied, speculative, and imaginative attempts at communicating beyond the human. In collective close reading/viewing/listening sessions, the colloquium explored and reflected on ways of narrating, mediating, representing, and translating encounters with the more-than-human. How are gestures, sounds, or sign-based “conversations” between different beings narrated and/or translated back into language? How do such practices challenge or transform the artist/researcher’s habits? And could artistic methods serve as a guideline for more-than human interaction? Exploring communication through gestures, sounds, and images, while unlikely to help us bridge the gap between humans and the more-than-humans, may enhance an attentiveness and sensibility that expands human language, thinking, and empathy.
Organized by Barbara Preisig and Ji Yun Park