In a zoo of relics - abandoning the jungle of meaning to
a walk on Sunday afternoon
By Michael Schneider
Words pointing to ...
Detached from its origins, removed from its environment, deprived of its
significance, the object of our former admiration is exposed to our eyes.
It has lost its grouping, its context and its meaning. The adulation has
disappeared from our eyes.
What remains is the "Thing Without Title";
and an attempt at rescuing as if we were reaching out to stop a falling person.
Reconstructing it - a non-illusion with illusionistic intentions.
Wanting to render perceptible what has been lost, demonstrating
comprehension where incomprehension would be appropriate, paying
respect to culture when it is no longer threatening, romantic ingratiation
under the sign of prudence and intellect.
In spite of this there will always be remnants of resistance inside the thing itself.
What is left of its former existence becomes its program for the future,
what has disappeared becomes its power.
And you can still put your consciousness into the hands of this power.
From: Ding O.T. - WOODCUTS by Michael Schneider. Landeck 1993, p. 6
English translation by Mag. Susanne Costa