Without Firm Ground – Vilém Flusser and the Arts. Closing Event Finissage

“Ins Universum der technischen Bilder” or “Lob der Oberflächlichkeit” – with such programmatic titles, Vilém Flusser (1920 – 1991) advanced to become one of the 20th-century’s leading thinkers on communication and the media. Flusser vigorously accepted the challenge to rethink the arts in a world where our existence is essentially determined by technology. The exhibition, which is showing works by around 40 artists as well as manuscripts, image and audio materials, and travel sketches, focuses on Flusser’s ideas and his relationship to the arts. 

The closing event begins with a discussion between art scholar Hubertus von Amelunxen and concept artist Jan Dibbets on “Vilém Flusser and the photographic image”. Flusser’s work is then further explored in a dialogue between Johannes Odenthal and Siegfried Zielinski. The ESTAR(SER) group, Princeton Universtity, is presenting a lecture performance on attentional rituals and technical images. The utopian promise of the internet, as Flusser described it, is discussed by Siegfried Zielinski, Teresa Dillon, Kristoffer Gansing, Baruch Gottlieb, Florian Hadler, Ewa Majewska and Julian Oliver. 

A cooperation with the ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation).