Exhibitions at the Secession building

EXHIBITIONS AT THE SECESSION BUILDING,
REOPENED AFTER RENOVATIONS.

The Art Nouveau-style building itself is worth a visit, its exhibitions are usually a bit “offbeat”, but most of the time very interesting.

A beautiful glass door opens into the the first room, where small sound boxes, set up next to computer screens, fill the room with street noises: voices, cars and unidentified background noise.
When entering, all the screens are black. “Power outage” crosses my mind for a few seconds only, because then, street scenes pop up on the screens. In one of them traffic on a highway is shown moving backwards, the other films are shown as recorded. I don’t stay too long, I am curious about the other exhibitions.

In the basement it is mostly dark. Big plastic cans are hanging from the ceiling. Next to them video screens display various performances. In one of them a man comes out of a refrigerator. Next to the huge plastic can he looks tiny, which leaves room for all kinds of interpretations.

On the upper floor it is entirely dark. Several people are sitting on a bench, watching a film about a country in the Far East. When I come in, a woman speaks on screen; in a language probably none of those watching is capable of understanding. And yet they keep sitting and listening.

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I am not interested in the question, whether this is “art” or not.
Sir Karl Popper’s quotation comes to mind: “I know that I know nothing – and hardly that”. A wise man indeed.