Blind Spot: Exhibition at Science Center Spectrum

Works by Markus Hoffmann, Sophia Pompéry and Tiago Romagnani Silveira at Science Center Spectrum, Berlin

Through artistic means Markus Hoffmann, Tiago Romagnani Silveira and Sophia Pompéry approximate various scientific disciplines, both in methodology and ways of thinking. Of central importance here is the experiment as an instrument of scientific history. Through experimentation, certainties – norms, values, structures – are put to the test. How we understand our reality is fluid and negotiable. This opens up for possibilities: we are able to, shape our reality. The artistic works in Science Center Spectrum invite us to experience the way our world is produced through the act of perception. We are active co-producers of that, which we call „reality.“

Markus Hoffman choreographs coincidental phenomena of optics and nuclear physics in his work. As rays emanating from the radioactive decay of the surroundings hit the window panes, which are connected, to a particle detector, the transparency of the glass is altered. Hence, the quality of light in the exhibition, space is constantly changing. This simple, direct aesthetic experience addresses the boundaries of our, perception, and subtly brings the rays and their source into focus, provoking ambivalent connotations.

Tiago Romagnani Silveiras‘ work between a point and another transforms electrical current into a poetic, experience. Electrical impulses cause an extended wire to glow at an unpredictable rate. The physical state of, this inconspicuous line, which connects two points, is subtly altered as the current runs through it. Change, in color, temperature and sound frequency accompany the contraction and expansion of the wire. As one, views the work, does time expand? Does the space?… Or do they remain constant?

From a novel perspective, Sophia Pompéry‘s videos show the laws of physics that mark our daily lives. Through reflections in water on the floor of the Science Center Spectrum, unseen spaces become visible. The sound of a flute penetrates a mirrored world. A mirror image is ingested. In this context, the myth of Narcissus, who fell in love with his own mirror image, raises questions of recognition and embodied, knowledge, of self-recognition and physical experience.

A shared working background at the Institut für Raumexperimente links the work of Markus Hoffmann, Tiago Romagnani Silveira and Sophia Pompéry. Curated by Christina Werner.