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  3. MIMICRY-EMPATHY
  • MIMICRY-EMPATHY

    28 September – 30 November, 2018

    Artists

    Bless
    Ulla Von Brandenburg
    Susanne Bürner
    Berta Fischer
    Wiktor Gutt/Waldemar Raniszewski
    Sofia Hultén
    Jochen Lempert
    Alexandra Leykauf
    Annette Kelm

     

  • In biology, mimicry implies a mostly visual adaptation to a different life form, which could be beneficial in some situations and, ultimately, secure survival. Besides making someone less visible, mimicry can also be a way of becoming more attractive, to be seen and favored over others. In any case, the recipient of mimicry will get a misleading signal and will be deluded.
    These mechanisms are not only practiced by animals but play into various social phenomena. For teenagers, trying to blend into a prevailing society can be a way to test their affiliation to various groups and life schemes, and to ultimately develop their own identity, based on their experience.
    In any case, the evolution of mimicry requires a certain amount of empathy to help understand the structure of the system one wants to be a part of. Thus, visual assimilation can only be created through engagement with the thinking and the strategies of the counterpart, sometimes even of the opponent. Spies are very much forced to understand the life of others, which can lead to their conversion. It is this exact empathy that blurs the boundaries between the imitator and the model and that allows for total identification.
    The Mimicry—Empathy exhibition negotiates these emotionally uncontrollable aspects of adaptation and challenges the construction of cultural identities.

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