Varzi urges us to think about the images that we consume "without 'thought'" by immersing audiences in "blindness." Her installation urges us to think about the privileging of sight as a sensorial mode, as well as the potential violences embedded in the act of seeing (particularly when it comes to war images and other visualized forms of violence/trauma). She reminds us of the need to question our own complacency in the visual medium by encouraging visitors to instead listen. Such can help us unpack the issues embedded in both the push for visualizing ethnography/toxicity as well as the manner in which we develop installations. Problematize the desire to commodify and make works of "art" out of the suffering of "others."
Group Audience
- Private group -
Cite as
Anonymous, "The Whole World Blind", contributed by Isabelle Soifer, Center for Ethnography, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 31 January 2020, accessed 19 April 2024. http://www.centerforethnography.org/content/whole-world-blind
Critical Commentary
Varzi urges us to think about the images that we consume "without 'thought'" by immersing audiences in "blindness." Her installation urges us to think about the privileging of sight as a sensorial mode, as well as the potential violences embedded in the act of seeing (particularly when it comes to war images and other visualized forms of violence/trauma). She reminds us of the need to question our own complacency in the visual medium by encouraging visitors to instead listen. Such can help us unpack the issues embedded in both the push for visualizing ethnography/toxicity as well as the manner in which we develop installations. Problematize the desire to commodify and make works of "art" out of the suffering of "others."