Studio Martha Schwindling

For the exhibition »The Appearance of That Which Cannot Be Seen«, scientists and theorists were invited to engage with artist Armin Linke’s photographic archive: Ariella Azoulay, Bruno Latour, Peter Weibel, Mark Wigley and Jan Zalasiewicz have separately selected pictures from Linke’s photo archive, now comprising more than twenty thousand images, and have commented on these in texts and interviews. The exhibition at ZKM Karlsruhe made this process visible while audio recordings provided the experts’ comments on the selected groups of images.

The concept was underlined by the exhibition design, in that the individual groups of pictures could be changed, supplemented and exchanged several times during the exhibition period in order to focus on different thematic areas. The image panels could be easily moved and exchanged, turning the space into a scenery in which the process of selecting and rearranging was always present. The large volume of photographs required cost-effective displays, and the design of the panels, stands, tables, and benches was derived from the efficient way theater sets are built.