Mercury Retrograde: energetic kinships and non-rational inquiry in the artistic process

In the block seminar “Mercury Retrograde: energetic kinships and non-rational inquiry in the artistic process” the students attempted to observe reality as a “controlled hallucination” and embrace a type of knowledge that is immaterial, non-rational, and usually nondemonstrable with traditional scientific methods. Distant from the city of Berlin, the students used technology as a “sensory tentacle” enhancing their human perception.

The students exchanged their irrational experiences, divination methods, and personal objects with metaphysical qualities. At the end of the seminar, each student presented their individual or group work that was created within the time of the seminar, after intensely engaging with their surroundings “irrationally” and with an open mindset. Outputs spanned across audiovisual media as well as performance.