Things We Sense About Each Other

The exhibition showcased artistic works that critically address divergent perspectives of an emancipatory and democratically conceived Europe, something that is being called into question along the margins (but also at the center) to an increasing degree. The artists explored the significance of objects or things which – depending on who interprets them, who claims them, and who resists their putative meanings – are the bearers of divergent and often antagonistic attributions of identity. Integrated into the exhibition alongside the art projects was a number of such conflictual objects themselves, which symbolize diverse ideas and visions of Europe from various political, cultural, and social perspectives. Whether everyday objects, political symbols, texts, or cryptograms, these semantically charged things act as antagonistic but also mediating and conciliatory artifacts in a dialogue between a multiplicity of European societal and cultural constellations. The participating artists expose the problematical status of these things, investigating at the same time the transformative potential of a history embodied in objects.