Hans-Peter Schütt
About Being a Being
13 January–5 February 2023
The exhibition features portraits of currently unknown beings, presumably animals. They do not have names, they cannot be found in any zoological species maps or traced by running up and down the ladder of evolution.
We can imagine their overall anatomical appearances, characteristic behavior, typical habitats and evolutionary path from the distant past to this point in time. Such an approach is probably the first thing that comes to mind for us humans. It is our species-typical behavior. It is intelligent and clever, but our approach that favors naming, identification and systematic categorization also has its flaws.
We might as well start by trying to identify with these beings and to understand them. To approach them with the help of emotions and imagination. To try and understand their will to live, grow, learn and develop, their desire to experience feelings of happiness, to take care and to love, their dreams. Everything that we think makes our lives meaningful and that we believe we are entitled to seek for ourselves.
I have been creating similar works for a long time but my reasons for making them are different from what they were ten years ago. The widening of perspectives and the movements of the human mind are presumably common occurrences related to the course of life. My works have been inspired by encounters with the unknown. Now I would say that they deal with the value and similarity of life and the efforts to survive the challenges of living, even if the form and ways of being in the world are very different from each other.
Thanks for Arts Promotion Centre Finland for supporting my work.
Contact details
hpschutt(a)gmail.com
0503082803
