WITH/IN/SIGNIFICANT OTHER
Spring, 2013
WITH/IN/SIGNIFICANT OTHER
OPEN SYSTEMS – ARTSLAB 2, 2013
Participating Artists
Bogomir Doringer |
Shilpa Gupta | Ashley Hunt |
Berat Işık |
Ralph Kistler | Mario Rizzi | Stefanie Wuschitz & Claudia Eipeldauer & Philipp Lammer | Zorica Zafirovska
Curator
Isin Önol
Instruments of vision mediate standpoints; there is no immediate vision from the standpoints of the subjugated. Identity, including self-identity, does not produce science; critical positioning does, that is, objectivity.[1]
New generations, particularly in financially developed countries, are raised within allegedly progressive education systems that, on the surface, reject traditional forms of discrimination. Meanwhile, in many socially, economically, and politically struggling regions, such reforms have yet to take root. These restructured curricula no longer explicitly promote militarism, colonialism, or notions of superiority; instead, they claim to foster self-reflection, equality, and an appreciation of difference. Yet, beneath this rhetoric of tolerance, the mechanisms that sustain discrimination and inequality remain deeply embedded, quietly shaping minds in ways that elude scrutiny.
Through carefully calibrated, politically correct language, education systems manage to conceal their exclusionary structures, making them difficult to challenge. At the same time, governments that champion non-violence and inclusivity in schools continue to expand military budgets, fortify surveillance systems, and invest in prisons—strategies designed to divide, monitor, and control. Those who do not conform to predetermined societal frameworks are ignored, neglected, or cast aside, rather than embraced in a vision of collective coexistence.
Our official histories, grand in their narratives of conquest, technological progress, and scientific achievements, omit the uncomfortable truths: state complicity in human trafficking, environmental destruction, systemic violence against women and LGBTQ+ communities, deaths at borders, silenced dissent, and suppressed freedoms. Schools and mass media work in tandem to justify and normalize these absences, leading individuals to overlook the unbearable realities that shape our world.
Amid these contradictions, urgent questions arise: Who writes the histories we are taught? Under what conditions, and in service of which ideologies, are they constructed? If not through schools, where and how do we internalize the belief that we stand on the “right” side of history? How does the excluded other become so insignificant as to vanish from the collective gaze?
In today’s social, political, economic, and educational landscape, can individuals unlearn indifference? Can we make each other visible while institutions continuously regenerate the notion of otherness? More crucially, how do we affirm the presence and dignity of the so-called insignificant other without erasing the delicate contours of their existence?
The exhibition with/in/significant other explores the politics of recognition, examining how otherness is constructed, reinforced, and normalized. It gathers artists, writers, and thinkers who engage with the unseen and unheard—the subaltern, the disregarded, the spectral presence overshadowed by dazzling power. It invites us to confront what has been rendered invisible, offering space for the insignificant other to be recognized, held in esteem, and made undeniable.
[1]Donna J. Haraway, Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective from Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York; Routledge, 1991)
PLEASE VIEW THE PROJECTS AT THE FOLLOWING LINKS:
| BOGOMIR DORINGER HOSPITALITY Installation, 2012 |
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| SHILPA GUPTA SOMEONE ELSE – A LIBRARY OF 100 BOOKS WRITTEN ANONYMOUSLY OR UNDER PSEUDONYMS S.S etched books, 2011 192×8.5×72 in | 488x22x190 cm |
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| ASHLEY HUNT CORRECTIONS Documentary film, 56 minutes, 2001 |
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| BERAT ISIK DANCER IN THE DARK Video, 2 min, 2003 |
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| Ralph Kistler SOCIAL NETWALKS HD Video, 7:39 minutes, 2012 |
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| MARIO RIZZI LIMINA Video, 20 minutes, 2008 |
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| STEFANIE WUSCHITZ DE-OTHERING MACHINE An inter-urban platform in public space that connects suburban sites in the cities of Krakau, Vienna and Linz |
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| ZORICA ZAFIROVSKA HUMAN TRAFFIC: POCETPEDIA OF THE TRAFFICKING in the 21st CENTURY Book, 112 pages, edition 500, Printing Lipris, 2009 |
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Berat Isik, Dancer in the Dark, video, 2003