A Partial View

In 1911, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Bertrand Russell fell into an argument over a rhinoceros. Russell wanted to get Wittgenstein to accept as true at least the apparently self-evident statement that there was no rhinoceros in the room. Wittgenstein refused to concede even that was certain, without further proof. This seemingly absurd incident touches on a question raised time and again in the group exhibition A Partial View: What is the relationship between perception, common sense, and certainty? The exhibition takes as its starting point stories, things, and images whose interrelationships change, depending on the perspective from which they are seen and how they are cropped and framed. Thus, a detail may sometimes bring to our attention a connection we overlooked in the overview; a material trace can suggest something that is no longer present. Or conversely: Something can be undeniably present, although there be no consensus over its legibility. What is visible, what is legible, emerges inter alia from the relationships among things, images, times, and contexts.