[Music]
you
do you know the expression to take a
leap of faith what does that mean to
take a leap of faith to take a leap of
faith means to take a step into the
unknown it’s like jumping from a huge
cliff into a cold water taking a step
beyond the boundaries of reason and when
we take a leap of faith we are in a
moment where we become aware of what’s
happening around us what’s happening
with us what we see what we hear what we
smell and this reach sharpens our
perception having grown up between
France and England
age 18 I decided to take a big step into
the unknown I’ve been planning to go
traveling with friends for years but I
decided I wanted to go by myself so I
went out there and had absolutely no
plan but to see what happens and I had
the fantastic chance of spending seven
months in Australia out bush sleeping
under the stars
regularly having to wake up at night to
feed the fire to keep the wild animals
away from my camp and out of it I had
the great opportunity of learning
traditional crafts which brought me into
really close connection with the
Aboriginal community and this brought me
even further into the landscape pure
nature back to basics my senses were
being constantly hit by the elements by
fire by water by earth by air and then
came the flights wind yeah I would never
ever ever forget landing in the middle
of the night in Mumbai age 19 all alone
I said foot out of that plane and there
was absolutely nothing
nothing I could recognize there was no
sight there was not a single smell
there’s not a single sound that remote
idli reminded me of anything I’d known
before somehow even touched fel
different unknowingly I landed in Mumbai
in the middle of the Ganesh festival
which is the most important religious
festival in the area it brings thousands
of people from the surrounding
countryside and to an already totally
and utterly overcrowded city a sea of
devotees moving through the streets
dancing and singing in the language I
couldn’t understand carrying huge
sculptures to go and throw them into the
ocean I had gone from total and utter
pure nature to pure culture my senses
were being hit really quite differently
than they were out but I felt as if I’d
gone through a black hole landed in a
new galaxy it was really scary the only
thing that I had left was my observation
I was by myself and I had to somehow
find my way around so began to observe
to pay attention to what I was hearing
where what was which sound coming from
what was producing which sound also the
smells and also the look in people’s
eyes what did these looks mean and
certainly I managed to kind of find my
way in and learn to navigate it now this
is something that I really missed when I
got back to Europe these experiences
were so mmm so intense how the unknown
quickens their senses how it sharpens
our perception but I found something
similar in the world of art especially
art that deals with physical phenomena
that raises questions
and ask for new connections now let me
give you an example a few months back I
found myself on a plane to Abu Dhabi
being totally fascinated by the view of
the earth from above I always take my
camera on board with me and having gone
past Turkey flying above the black seen
the play of Lights between the clouds on
the surface of the water was really
quite stunning and a few moments later
the light had slightly changed so took
out my camera again and I look through
and this is what I saw the black sea was
definitely not black what was happening
so I did a reality check and the camera
was revealing something which I couldn’t
see with a naked eye as I found out
later this is called a double light
refraction this is a phenomena which
uncovers something which is always there
we just don’t normally see and so not
being able to understand what was
happening in that moment didn’t stop it
from being less astonishing and I spend
the rest of the flight crafting on my
seat with my eye glued to the camera and
then we flew past Syrian and a few
moments later we free pass Iraq and as
the Sun was setting were flying past
Iran
now this suddenly visible natural
phenomena flashing in my mind’s eye with
the images that I have what is happening
on the ground at that very same moment
how could such beauty collide with
absolute horror it raised huge questions
on on nature and on mankind somehow I’d
caught something which combined and to
utopia and utopia in one image now this
surprise which I experienced on that
flight is something that I intentionally
work with in my art practice I
intentionally create visual shifts to
create unexpected experiences now I do
this because these surprises and this
unexpectedness it makes us aware of
what’s happening makes us aware of
what’s happening around us and what’s
happening with us and on top of it it
creates a very short moment of
astonishment this moment of astonishment
together with very precise sensory
perception it lets us float in a moment
of question through an experience of
floating attention unexpected ideas and
feelings and images can arise
I took an object which we all know in
our daily nice a mirror and I placed it
into the earth it was exactly the size
of this carpet and by having its surface
level with the surrounding ground I
stopped being that object that we know
and created a hole into the ground as
deep as the sky is high
now whatever creates is always an
invitation I never want to prescribe any
particular perception to the viewer
because ultimately each and every one of
us enjoys an endless imaginative world
now with this piece I had the great
opportunity to combine cultural
exploration with artistic exploration in
the context of connects the performance
festival in the Democratic Republic of
Congo the way that the Congolese people
approach visual fall into the sky went
way beyond anything I could have
possibly imagined
[Music]
the French philosopher Gaston bachelor
has a very poetical way of expressing
how our imagination can influence our
reason he says in the world of dreams we
do not fly because we have wings but we
have wings because we have flown now
most of us are already dreamt of flying
right if you think back on those dreams
you’ll realize that that dream does not
start with having wings having wings is
not the starting point of flying and
dreams but having flown is our
imagination wings of how it feels to
overcome something which is actually
impossible and you can clues with the
principle of flying and dreams is deep
this is the principle which imagination
must find the principle of flying in
dreams is deep this is the principle
which imagination must find so what he’s
referring to is an experience of wonder
wonder is a really complex information
it is initiated by something singularly
beautiful something rare or something
unexpected and it brings with it an
element of surprise an element of
curiosity admiration and also
contemplation
[Music]
the experience of Wanda is often
dismissed as being self-indulgent well
being childish yeah it’s true
children enjoy wonder most of the time
they can get totally lost on a tiny
detail and forget everything else is
happening around them and I think that’s
the reason why it’s often dismissed by
adults because it brings with it a fear
of a breakdown of knowledge when we
experience wonder we spare us a
phenomena which goes way past our
cognitive ability our reason is
temporarily suspended it is a leap of
faith the video I started off with
logics of drops this is the record of
four cameras which went way past our
Earth’s atmosphere to have a look over
the edge of space and come back down
rather quickly back down to earth now
experiencing that flight visually
especially in virtual reality created a
really strong illusion of being able to
overcome physical limitations the
reaction of the public was quite fun to
observe just briefly forgetting that
overcoming the laws of physics is not
possible suspending a reason through
perception is a really important topic
in the world of art at the opening of
this year’s document of the document of
14 its artistic director open the
exhibition by underlining the idea that
if we are going to begin to be able to
begin to even imagine appropriate
solutions to the global questions that
we face today we need to start by
accepting that our knowledge is totally
limited
and learning everything would believe to
know is the best beginning and when we
unlearn what we believe to know then
we’re left with observation was looking
now this is something which is not only
fun in the world of art and the
philosophy of startups for example
raising every single idea we’ve already
had to come up with the absolute
groundbreaking new ideas is I think on
the cards everywhere I look now the
point is not to negate knowledge that is
not the point
not to negate knowledge but in order to
be able to move with our time isn’t it
really important that we keep
reconsidering
keep reassessing whether our
understanding still fits with reality
and my opinion my humble opinion taking
leaps of faith into imagination
experiments there’s great potential
you
thank you
you
you
do you know the expression to take a
leap of faith what does that mean to
take a leap of faith to take a leap of
faith means to take a step into the
unknown it’s like jumping from a huge
cliff into a cold water taking a step
beyond the boundaries of reason and when
we take a leap of faith we are in a
moment where we become aware of what’s
happening around us what’s happening
with us what we see what we hear what we
smell and this reach sharpens our
perception having grown up between
France and England
age 18 I decided to take a big step into
the unknown I’ve been planning to go
traveling with friends for years but I
decided I wanted to go by myself so I
went out there and had absolutely no
plan but to see what happens and I had
the fantastic chance of spending seven
months in Australia out bush sleeping
under the stars
regularly having to wake up at night to
feed the fire to keep the wild animals
away from my camp and out of it I had
the great opportunity of learning
traditional crafts which brought me into
really close connection with the
Aboriginal community and this brought me
even further into the landscape pure
nature back to basics my senses were
being constantly hit by the elements by
fire by water by earth by air and then
came the flights wind yeah I would never
ever ever forget landing in the middle
of the night in Mumbai age 19 all alone
I said foot out of that plane and there
was absolutely nothing
nothing I could recognize there was no
sight there was not a single smell
there’s not a single sound that remote
idli reminded me of anything I’d known
before somehow even touched fel
different unknowingly I landed in Mumbai
in the middle of the Ganesh festival
which is the most important religious
festival in the area it brings thousands
of people from the surrounding
countryside and to an already totally
and utterly overcrowded city a sea of
devotees moving through the streets
dancing and singing in the language I
couldn’t understand carrying huge
sculptures to go and throw them into the
ocean I had gone from total and utter
pure nature to pure culture my senses
were being hit really quite differently
than they were out but I felt as if I’d
gone through a black hole landed in a
new galaxy it was really scary the only
thing that I had left was my observation
I was by myself and I had to somehow
find my way around so began to observe
to pay attention to what I was hearing
where what was which sound coming from
what was producing which sound also the
smells and also the look in people’s
eyes what did these looks mean and
certainly I managed to kind of find my
way in and learn to navigate it now this
is something that I really missed when I
got back to Europe these experiences
were so mmm so intense how the unknown
quickens their senses how it sharpens
our perception but I found something
similar in the world of art especially
art that deals with physical phenomena
that raises questions
and ask for new connections now let me
give you an example a few months back I
found myself on a plane to Abu Dhabi
being totally fascinated by the view of
the earth from above I always take my
camera on board with me and having gone
past Turkey flying above the black seen
the play of Lights between the clouds on
the surface of the water was really
quite stunning and a few moments later
the light had slightly changed so took
out my camera again and I look through
and this is what I saw the black sea was
definitely not black what was happening
so I did a reality check and the camera
was revealing something which I couldn’t
see with a naked eye as I found out
later this is called a double light
refraction this is a phenomena which
uncovers something which is always there
we just don’t normally see and so not
being able to understand what was
happening in that moment didn’t stop it
from being less astonishing and I spend
the rest of the flight crafting on my
seat with my eye glued to the camera and
then we flew past Syrian and a few
moments later we free pass Iraq and as
the Sun was setting were flying past
Iran
now this suddenly visible natural
phenomena flashing in my mind’s eye with
the images that I have what is happening
on the ground at that very same moment
how could such beauty collide with
absolute horror it raised huge questions
on on nature and on mankind somehow I’d
caught something which combined and to
utopia and utopia in one image now this
surprise which I experienced on that
flight is something that I intentionally
work with in my art practice I
intentionally create visual shifts to
create unexpected experiences now I do
this because these surprises and this
unexpectedness it makes us aware of
what’s happening makes us aware of
what’s happening around us and what’s
happening with us and on top of it it
creates a very short moment of
astonishment this moment of astonishment
together with very precise sensory
perception it lets us float in a moment
of question through an experience of
floating attention unexpected ideas and
feelings and images can arise
I took an object which we all know in
our daily nice a mirror and I placed it
into the earth it was exactly the size
of this carpet and by having its surface
level with the surrounding ground I
stopped being that object that we know
and created a hole into the ground as
deep as the sky is high
now whatever creates is always an
invitation I never want to prescribe any
particular perception to the viewer
because ultimately each and every one of
us enjoys an endless imaginative world
now with this piece I had the great
opportunity to combine cultural
exploration with artistic exploration in
the context of connects the performance
festival in the Democratic Republic of
Congo the way that the Congolese people
approach visual fall into the sky went
way beyond anything I could have
possibly imagined
[Music]
the French philosopher Gaston bachelor
has a very poetical way of expressing
how our imagination can influence our
reason he says in the world of dreams we
do not fly because we have wings but we
have wings because we have flown now
most of us are already dreamt of flying
right if you think back on those dreams
you’ll realize that that dream does not
start with having wings having wings is
not the starting point of flying and
dreams but having flown is our
imagination wings of how it feels to
overcome something which is actually
impossible and you can clues with the
principle of flying and dreams is deep
this is the principle which imagination
must find the principle of flying in
dreams is deep this is the principle
which imagination must find so what he’s
referring to is an experience of wonder
wonder is a really complex information
it is initiated by something singularly
beautiful something rare or something
unexpected and it brings with it an
element of surprise an element of
curiosity admiration and also
contemplation
[Music]
the experience of Wanda is often
dismissed as being self-indulgent well
being childish yeah it’s true
children enjoy wonder most of the time
they can get totally lost on a tiny
detail and forget everything else is
happening around them and I think that’s
the reason why it’s often dismissed by
adults because it brings with it a fear
of a breakdown of knowledge when we
experience wonder we spare us a
phenomena which goes way past our
cognitive ability our reason is
temporarily suspended it is a leap of
faith the video I started off with
logics of drops this is the record of
four cameras which went way past our
Earth’s atmosphere to have a look over
the edge of space and come back down
rather quickly back down to earth now
experiencing that flight visually
especially in virtual reality created a
really strong illusion of being able to
overcome physical limitations the
reaction of the public was quite fun to
observe just briefly forgetting that
overcoming the laws of physics is not
possible suspending a reason through
perception is a really important topic
in the world of art at the opening of
this year’s document of the document of
14 its artistic director open the
exhibition by underlining the idea that
if we are going to begin to be able to
begin to even imagine appropriate
solutions to the global questions that
we face today we need to start by
accepting that our knowledge is totally
limited
and learning everything would believe to
know is the best beginning and when we
unlearn what we believe to know then
we’re left with observation was looking
now this is something which is not only
fun in the world of art and the
philosophy of startups for example
raising every single idea we’ve already
had to come up with the absolute
groundbreaking new ideas is I think on
the cards everywhere I look now the
point is not to negate knowledge that is
not the point
not to negate knowledge but in order to
be able to move with our time isn’t it
really important that we keep
reconsidering
keep reassessing whether our
understanding still fits with reality
and my opinion my humble opinion taking
leaps of faith into imagination
experiments there’s great potential
you
thank you
you
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