genius foci
(in reference to ‘genius loci’ (lat.):
the spirit of a place)
2002


10 lightboxes, each with 2 photos

 

We see.
Every day.
Anew.

 

Usually our perception is formed by what we know, what we are used to, and rarely are we conscious of the fact that every glance contains numerous images and possibilities for looking at things.
‘Genius foci’ takes up one of these possibilities and shows how a moment can be perceived differently simply by shifting the focus.
 
"To look at things as if you saw them for the first time, is a method to discover aspects of them that until now remained unnoticed. It is a powerful and fertile method but it requires a great deal of discipline. At base, the discipline consists of a forgetting, a bracketing of one’s familiarity with the seen object, which is to say, all experience and knowledge of it."
 
Vilém Flusser