Know thyself

What do we know and what are the roots of our knowledge?

The exhibition Know thyself presents two outstanding generations of conceptual positions by Ryszard Wasko, Clara Jo and Tiago Romagnani Silveira, which sagaciously analyse the ways in which we learn about ourselves and explore the understanding of the human physique and psyche; not as autonomous systems but symbiotic in relation to the worlds of nature and social structures, as a core fragment in the history and imagination of our universe. Plato’s Socrates distinguished between knowing and believing in knowing, while postulating the aphorism to “know thyself” as a means to foster an understanding of our physical and metaphysical world. When looking for revelation, scientists, seek to discover the true mechanics of a thing. Philosophers ruminate on a thing's nature and function based on empirical and speculative inferences. Artists seek understanding and insight about the animus by reusing, repurposing and reinventing any such tool, medium and technology available to them whilst not being bound by any particular doctrine when transmuting knowledge to form, a process which is almost alchemical.

The multi-media artist and curator Ryszard Wasko (*1947, PL) - one of the pioneer conceptual artists, initiator of Construction in process (1981), founder of The International Artists' Museum (1989) in Lodz - works with deconstructive analysis and the study of the nature of the mediums through his own language. His works have been shown in Documenta 6, Venice Biennial, Sao Paolo Biennial, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, MoMA etc.

Clara Jo’s (US/KR) work situates itself around cultural observations and public experimentation. She explores the intersection of visual art and other disparate disciplines, as well as their relationships through re-narrated propositions.

Tiago Romagnani Silveira’s (*1983, BR) installations and video art works subtly investigate individual perception and the passage of time, gravity and density of movement in relation to the landscape, nature and society, aiming at better understanding the complex and challenging nature of our being. Silveira's works were recently featured in the SESC Videobrasil 2011.

Clara Jo and Tiago Romagnani Silveira , are affiliated with the Institute für Raumexperimente Berlin.

Know thyself
Ryszard Wasko, Clara Jo, Tiago Romagnani Silveira
Kuratorin: Anastasia Stein