100 Ways of Thinking
University of Zurich at Kunsthalle
Nils Pfändler in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, part 1 (on 100 Ways of Thinking); Nils Pfändler in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, part 2 (on Davide Scaramuzza); part 3 (Farid Rezaeian) in Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Die moderne Kunst der ästhetischen Nasenrekonstruktion;
Click here for a 360° tour of 100 Ways of Thinking!
Is making music a form of thinking? How many people does it take to think? Why are computers unable to come up with jokes? How does thinking work and what happens when it stops working? Can the universe be represented by a picture, and what is science’s relationship to that picture? Is art more than an imaging process?
These are some of the questions posed by 100 Ways of Thinking, taking place from August 25 to November 4, 2018, during which time Kunsthalle Zürich is hosting the University of Zurich. 100 Ways of Thinking is an exhibition and lecture hall in one, because here more than 100 lectures and conferences, seminars and inaugural lectures, podium discussions and performances will take place. In temporarily turning into a university, the Kunsthalle once more changes its role, just as it had previously become a church (Rob Pruitt: The Church), a playground (The Playground Project), or a theater (Theater der Überforderung).
All events taking place during 100 Ways of Thinking are open to the public and free of charge. Please visit our calendar for the program’s details.
Welcome to the Kunsthalle University!
With conferences, inaugural lectures, performances, artworks, visualizations, talks, and seminaries by
Yuri Albert, Roger Alberto, Eric Alms, Nils Althaus, Matthias Altmeyer, Inke Arns, Philipp Auchter, Christina Aus der Au, Damien Bachmann, Yannick Baldassare, Erika Balsom, Célia Baroux, Markus Baumgartner, Isabel Baur, Beatrice Beck Schimmer, Wolfgang Behr, Juliane Berger, Thomas Biedermann, Mirko Bischofberger, Claudia Bischoff, Susanna Blaser-Meier, Barbara Bleisch, Jana Bochet, Heiner Bollwein, Beat Bornhauser, Sophie Böttcher-Haberzeth, Christina Boyle, Christina Brandenberger, Christopher Braun, Nadja Braun-Binder, Silvia Brem, Elisabeth Bronfen, Peter Brugger, Nadia Brügger, Simone Bucher van Ligten, Andrea Büchler, Miriam Buchmann, Sarah Bütikofer, Rita Castro, Marcus Clauss, Seline Coraj, Nina Cornelius, Damian Cueni, David Czell, Alexander Damm-Reiser, Noemi Dannecker, Lorraine Daston, Adriana De Nicola, Philipp Denzel, Sarah Di Pietro, Michael Dillhyon, Caroline Dorn, Christa Dürscheid, Samuel Eberenz, Elisabeth Eberle, Valeria Eckhardt, Ulrike Ehlert, Martin Ehrbar, Daniel Engeler, Nicole Erichsen, Simon Etter, Martin Etzrodt, Meret Fehlmann, Georges Felten, Elena Ferrari, Filipa Ferreira, Serena Fiacco, Adrienne Fichter, Lukas Filli, Philipp Fleischmann, Sonja Flury, Regula Forster, Heiner Franzen, Jörg Frey, Laure Freydefont, Sandra Frimmel, Ulrich Frischknecht, Sascha Frühholz, Kathrin Füglister, Viktoria Furrer, Carla Gabrí, Harald Gall, Elisa Ganser, Mariana Gasperini, Catherine Gebhard, Guido Gefter, Marta Gibert, Gianni Giger, Andreas Glaser, Sven Gohla, Michael Greeff, Stefan Groth, Nicolas Hächler, Raphael Hähni, Elisa Haller, Jean-Michel Hatt, Irene Hediger, Tobias Heilmann, Tobias Heinzelmann, Denise Helbling, Daniel Hellmann, Fritjof Helmchen, Luc Henry, Tanja Hess, Christian Hierholzer, Julian Hirt, Jürg Hodler, Markus Huppenbauer, Meret Husy, Dieter Imboden, Bruno Imthurn, Eliza Isabaeva, Lutz Jäncke, Halldór Janetzko, Jannes Jegminat, Nicole Jenzer, Sebastian Jessberger, Nicole Joller, Fanny Jones, Thomas Julier, Sophie Junge, Hiwa K, Thomas Kaiser, Pranitha Kamat, Megha Katyal, Lukas Keller, Oliver Keller, Stephanie Kernich, Sinan Kilic, Clare Killikelly, Andreas Kley, Isabelle Klusmann, Patrick Köck, Ines Kohler, Julian Kohler, Anne Kolb, Katrin Kolo, Kata Krasznahorkai, Janina Krepar, Félix Pierre Kuhn, Ekaterina Kurilova-Markarjan, Tim Lacker, Laura Maria Lang, Tatiana Latychevskaia, Sarah Lechmann, Mick Lehmann, Sune Lehmann, Reik Leiterer, Bigna Lenggenhager, Sibylle Leuthold, Elisabeth Liechti, Fabienne Liptay, Francisca Loetz, Vanessa Lorenzo, Gunter Lösel, Nastasia Louveau, Christine Lötscher, Thomas A. Lutz, Eleni Malama, Julien Martel, Bruno Martins, Kory Mathewson, Alexa McCallum, Laura Mernone, Dieter Mersch, Annemarie Mertens, Mariia Merzhvynska, Nathalie Meyer, Morana Mihaljević, Piotr Mikowski, Stefanie Mirwald, Rosy Mondardini, Ben Moore, Elisabeth Moser Opitz, Lea Mozzini, Beda Mühleisen, Jan Müller, Antonia Maria Susanne Müller, Ulrike Müller-Böker, Thomas Münzer, Lauriane Nallet Khosrofian, Albina Nowak-Wilhelm, Reto Nyffeler, Michelle Aimée Oesch, María Ordóñez, Dimitra Papadopoulou , Jeanne Peter, Jürgen Pfeffer, Cedric Plessiet, Dina Pomeranz, Stephan Porombka, Maike Powroznik, Lucas Prieto Gonzales-Posada, Thorsten Quandt, Peter Radelfinger, Lawrence Rajendran, Friederike Rass, Priyanka Ravikumar, Farid Razaeian, Brigitte Rechenberg, Sascha Reichstein, Gaia Restivo, Anton Rey, Christian Ritter, Marte Roel, Dino Rossi, Felix Rost, Mika Rottenberg, Ulrich Rudolph, Prasenjit Saha, Marcel Salathé, Sylvia Sasse, Mario F. Scaglioni, Davide Scaramuzza, Michael Schaepman, Mike S. Schäfer, Anne Scherer, Juanita Schläpfer, Martin Schläpfer, Konrad Schmid, Anja Schulthess, Fiacco Serena, Dimitrina Sevova, Naveen Shamsudhin, Roland Sigel, Stephan Skawran, Bettina Spoerri, Joachim Stadel, Christoph Steier, Raji C. Steineck, Esther Stoeckli, Meret Stöckli, Gabriele Stötzer, Jean-Daniel Strub, Daniel Christoph Sürder, Brigitte Tag, Stefan Tcherepnin, Philipp Theison, Pierre Thomé, Nika Timashkova, Tamar Tolcachier, Robert Torche, Manuel Trachsel, Johannes Trück, Ladina Tschander, Joaquin Urdinez, Marie Voignier, Michael von Rhein, Hartmut von Sass, Serge Vuille, Alexander F. Wagner, Laura Walde, Hannah Walter, Bernhard Wandernoth, Konrad Weber, Susanne Wegener, Stefan Weiler, Robert Weiss, Jasmin Winkler, Marcus Winter, Benno Wirz, Christine Jeanine Wittlin, David Yanagizawa-Drott, Laura Zachmann, Nicolas Zahn, Sandro Zanetti, Felix Zelder, Valentina Zingg, Artur Żmijewski
100 Ways of Thinking, that is, 100 ways and forms of engaging in this mental activity, is a festival of knowledge, a meeting place, and a laboratory for research, art, and teaching. Its focus is on the diversity of knowledge areas, what they convey and how thinking cannot do without language and images—and is unthinkable without them—be it in the realms of law, music, medicine, literature, economics, psychology, theology, or art.
What images does science produce and how do we picture science? Imaging techniques, diagrams, calculations, and illustrations are research tools. What role do technology and aesthetics play in the production of scientific images? How does representation affect understanding? Where does it clarify, where manipulate? Questions such as these cut a direct path to art.
Time and again, art has tried to emancipate itself from acting as a convenient decoration of knowledge, and to instead establish itself as a separate (and at times peculiar) field of knowledge. Currents such as minimal art, conceptual art, or land art testify to this, and so do impressionism, surrealism, and even Dadaism in its attempt to void itself of all meaning. In doing so, art has borrowed from other disciplines: psychology, geography, literature, philosophy, phenomenology, etc. Meaning that art wanted and needed to adopt a trans- and interdisciplinary approach—fully recognizing all the issues and pitfalls that can arise from such a methodology. As such, the connection between science and art seems a given—even if the actualization of such a linkage is more complex than we might want to acknowledge. Which is exactly one of the reasons why 100 Ways of Thinking is taking place.
New technologies allow science to look deeper into the cellular structures of life—as, for example, in the labs of brain researchers Sebastian Jessberger and Fritjof Helmchen—or they permit a view into outer space—such as undertaken by the astrophysicists Ben Moore, Joachim Stadel, and Prasenjit Saha. The immunologist Nicole Joller processes the data of several million cells presenting it as a large dot diagram that allows us to see at a glance which cells have changed as the result of an infection. These technical methods of imaging and visualization do not only serve to support scientific discovery, they also develop, as 100 Ways of Thinking shows, an aesthetic life of their own. Conversely, in her work Hearing the Shape of a Drum, the artist Marie Voignier rejects aestheticization in order to expose the blind spots of our image-addicted society. Slavicist Sylvia Sasse, in turn, explores the subtle strategies artists use to resist permanent surveillance in totalitarian regimes. Eye movements recorded by neurologist Konrad Weber’s specially developed camera become a Dadaist performance in a collaborative project with the artist Elisabeth Eberle. Artur Zmijewski spent the past six months in his "How to Teach Art" seminar with doctoral students from the University of Zurich and the Zurich University of the Arts testing various procedures to "make art out of nothing.” The results are now on view for the first time in 100 Ways of Thinking.
100 Ways of Thinking thus opens up a space for exploration and experimentation. The exhibition is not about finding answers or to define ways of thinking, but instead invites visitors into a joint discussion. 250 experts will appear at the Kunsthalle to share their knowledge with you. 100 Ways of Thinking invites you to participate, to become involved, to engage, and to follow newly emerging paths of which we don’t know where they might lead—other than to a crucial enhancement of the images we produce and engage with and a broadening of our knowledge and ideas.
Curated by Daniel Baumann (Kunsthalle Zürich) and Katharina Weikl (Universität Zürich).
The exhibition is made possible by the support of Stiftung Mercator Schweiz and is organized by University of Zurich Graduate Campus.
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