Denis Handschin
Traces of my research about doing nothing
My project involves investigating and developing a more complex understanding of what doing nothing can mean. Related to this is a larger questioning of the value of passivity compared with activity. Passivity is often regarded as subordinate to activity in the West; I suspect that that attitudes may differ in Asia.
The research I carried out involved asking people from Hong Kong from many different backgrounds about their opinions regarding this dialectic between passivity and activity. One interesting story that I collected as part of this process was a conversation with Snow Huang, from Shenzhen. We decided beforehand to meet up while I was in Hong Kong, and attempt to not talk to one another the entire day. I took along a camera that I hung around my neck in order to document the occasion. Our agreed-upon no-speaking rule ended up raising interesting questions about human behaviour and interculturality.
Denis Handschin: Voiceless with Snow, April 2014
documentation / installation, Connecting Space Hong Kong
The work I am presenting in the Museum Bärengasse further expands the story of my interactions with Snow Huang. I have included snippets of Internet chats, as well as a video showing the interaction itself. The video is intended to elicit the mood that was created when we finally met. Furthermore, it is also about the concept of what we see & make seen, specifically what we see through our eyes, and the estrangement from the everyday that we all experience. What else would one expect out of doing nothing?
Denis Handschin: Voiceless with Snow, May 2014
mixed media (digital print, loop projection), Museum Bärengasse, Zurich
