THE UNCANNY

Sigmund Freud and Art
Sigmund Freud Museum, Vienna
26/04/24 till 04/11/24

Just as this specific feeling of anxiety - not least in view of the current world situation - penetrates to the surface of human consciousness, it is also reflected in contemporary art. The international positions on display confront the uncanny in metaphorical compositions of deformed or exposed bodies as well as in subtle stagings that often only gradually reveal the horror.

As early as 1919, Freud referred to the ability of the arts to express the uncanny in his text of the same name (“Das Unheimliche”). To him, the descriptions of poetry in particular appear to be even richer than the actual experience. Both the literary examples he cites and the analysis of the meaning of the term "uncanny" lead him to the same conclusion: the uncanny can be traced back to both the familiar (the homely/heimisch in German) and the repressed (the secret/unheimlich). Above all, the "veiled character" of this sensation triggers horror in us. Numerous works of contemporary art confirm Freud's insights, either focusing directly on the uncanny or evoking the feeling through almost inconspicuous irritations, whose meaning only becomes apparent on closer inspection and sheds light on the uncanny sensation. mehr

 

An exhibition of the Sigmund Freud Museum in cooperation with Kunsthalle Tuebingen


Conceived and curated by Monika Pessler and Dr. Nicole Fritz

 

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