Le monde (project for an artists book, 2000)

„le séjour des hommes sur la terre, l´ensemble des êtres et des choses parmi lesquels se passe notre vie.“

("the existence of man on earth, the totality of beings and things between which make up our life.")

Slowly and tentatively moving forward, we open up the world to us. Our encyclopedic knowledge of it we assemble, like a mosaic, made up of experiences, traditions and dreams, all the while applying our ingenuity. 
Since mosaics are composed of different aspects, we think them generally
to be extremely robust. Doubts are rare.

Cognitive processes need not necessarily require verbal or visual thinking, they can also exist in a purely abstract space, expanded by our mind. We are used to reflections on our own thoughts and are even no strangers to its re-meta-meta-cognitive analyses. However, we continually seek to condense our insights into something visual, verbal or tangible, thus once again creating new cognitions.

But if our knowledge of the world would be in us and would not be supported by the world itself, if the world would not be our counterpart which remains foreign to us, but the space in between, that space into which speak and in which we are heard, it would be essential in order not to suffocate in the solitude of utter relativisation to align our instruments to those interfaces, which allow us to open up the world. Failing this, we wouldn't have anything left to say to each other and everyone would keep to himself.

I am convinced that art would have to endeavour such an undertaking and each  medium seems to me suitable for this purpose, if it, like photography, makes available those tactile skills essential for it. Art would then be the means to keep this space inbetween expanded.

(transl.: Stephan Wicker)