Z O O M

Saâdane Afif, Yeşim Akdeniz, Dr. Fanni Aspetsberger, Yael Bartana, Monica Bonvicini, Leda Bourgogne, Candice Breitz, Bernadette Conrad, Natalie Czech, Simon Fujiwara, Thomas Geisel, Melissa Gordon, Dan Graham, Dr. Ulrike Groos, Thomas Grünfeld, Nicolás Guagnini, Kübra Gümüşay, Dvir Intrator, Christian Jankowski, Sven Johne, Anna K.E., Natasha A. Kelly, Tim Knaak, Annekathrin Kohout, Felix Krämer, Magdalena Kröner, Alicja Kwade, Kristina Marlen, Kris Martin, Ana Mazzei, Florian Meisenberg, Andi Meurer, John Morgan, Henrike Naumann, Thorsten Nolting, Marcel Odenbach, Olu Oguibe, Berenice Olmedo, Heribert C. Ottersbach, Trevor Paglen, Jens Pecho, Laure Prouvost, Gabriel Rico Jiménez, Thomas Ruff, Dr. Nahlah Saimeh, Dr. Mithu M. Sanyal, Julia Scher, Martin Schläpfer, Andreas Schmitten, Noemi Smolik, Phillip Sollmann, Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, Daniela Steinfeld, Britta Thie, Thomas D. Trummer, Anna Virnich, Wendy White, Alex Wissel, Johannes Wohnseifer, Minna Wündrich, Guan Xiao, Tobias Zielony

Z O O M is an exhibition and publication project of the Philara Collection, which positions literature as a basis for connection. The project aims to initiate a global outreach that resists demarcation and isolation, by encouraging encounters without the need for personal contact. Reading enables people to step out of their own world and forge connections with the minds of others. Reading requires one to be receptive to new ideas; to alter one’s perspective.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on our habits and on that which we take for granted. In this regard, with the onset of the spread of the infection in Germany, Philara Collection has put the following question to 62 artists and actors from various social areas, whose intellectual debates we consider to be socially formative:

If you could only choose one book for an indefinite period of seclusion, what would it be and why?

This publication aims to create a quiet, introspective map of ideas of the period of isolation, one which sketches a mental exploration of the world and gives insights into artistic practice, humanistic principles, current social conflicts, as well as providing a view into the private lives of the interviewees. The result is a cross-section and multi-perspective portrait that aims to reflect the tendencies of a society in transition, and thereby the associated transformation of art and knowledge production is visible.