H-U-M-A-N-?

Adaptation for Klanglicht festival, Graz, 2019.
Consisting of a simple word in lights followed by a question mark, the H-U-M-A-N-? installation gives rise to an innocent question, so simple as to sound even naive: do we actually know what being human means?

Depending on where viewers stand, the lit letters show up as incomplete or distorted. This or that word is cut short. The letters only make sense in their entirety when seen from one specific vantage point. Perhaps the same can be said of humanity itself: depending on our vantage point, what first looks like an asemblage of heterogeneous and split up parts may in fact turn out to be a harmonious and unified whole, as perceived in its entirety.

21 m x 2.5 m, 112 LED lamps on wood and aluminium structure
Musical Accompaniment by Friedrich Kleinhapl.

Photos: Alex Koch/ Christian Thiess/ Marija Kanizaj