Luftschutzraum (FFM)

Der Blick ins Unbekannte (2023/2025)
Site-specific video installation, HD projection on stainless steel mesh (250 µm)

In Der Blick ins Unbekannte (A Glimpse into the Unknown), Willi Bucher presents a site-specific projection that intertwines visual, material, and existential dimensions. At the center is a high-definition video projected onto fine stainless steel mesh – a precise, semi-transparent industrial material whose structure evokes neural networks through its 250-micron weave.

The image layers three visual components: a medical CT scan of the brain, a photographic portrait, and a hand-drawn line drawing. This composition becomes a hybrid – merging inner visibility (the brain), outer identity (portrait), and symbolic abstraction (drawing/text). The work reflects on the limits of perception, rooted in Bucher’s personal experience of a sudden loss of vision due to an eye infarction. Beyond the clinical event, the installation explores the uncertain zone between sensing and knowing – where intuition arises before clarity. In this space, the body is no longer a fixed image but a fragile interface between the physical and the conceptual. Bucher’s work resonates with traditions of body-based art from Arnulf Rainer to Bruce Nauman, and with media artists like Gary Hill and Bill Viola, who use the body as a vessel for inner states.

Installed in the context of Julie Mia’s exhibition, the projection gains further resonance as it intersects not only different media, but also artistic voices. The mesh becomes a literal and metaphorical interface – between space and image, artist and viewer, diagnosis and self. Der Blick ins Unbekannte questions how identity is shaped by medical imaging, and how art can reclaim that image through complexity, ambiguity, and transformation.

The work Inflect by the artist Jacqueline Hen was created in close connection with her large-scale installation Light High, for which she won the Unna Light Art Prize in 2019. Both works explore themes of space, sound, the digital and the analog, as well as how humans perceive these structures and principles of order. Consciously with sensory stimuli and the impressions they evoke plays a central role in the artist’s work. 

Upon entering the air-raid shelter, two acoustic signals can be heard, accompanied by blue light. The two sound tracks consist of rising and falling tones, which create the illusion of an infinitely ascending or descending scale. This acoustic illusion, first described in 1964 by psychologist Roger N. Shepard, complements the installation, which, through optical illusion, creates the impression of an infinite light tunnel. This is achieved by two parallel ’spy mirrors‚ with a circle of light in the middle. Especially in the participatory interaction of multiple viewers approaching the installation from both sides, another sensory impression arises, where the individuals‘ faces overlap – they seem to merge. What self-image, what parts of the self and the other can be recognized here? The installation brings this experience to life. Photo: Thorsten Wagner

We strive to make our premises and program accessible to all audiences. Please note that the air shelter is located in the basement and can be visited on request or during events. We will be happy to help you.