THE 3-SECOND RULE OF THUMB
Curated by Kaspar Müller
DECEMBER 15, 2023 - FEBRUARY 2, 2024
Carla Accardi
Ciccio
Peter Fischli
Jack Goldstein
Michelle Grabner
Bill Hayden
Emil Michael Klein
Beatrice Marchi
Kaspar Müller
Susanne Paesler
Cinzia Ruggeri
Michael Stevenson
Lily van der Stokker
Andreas Zybach
Galleria Federico Vavassori is very happy to be able to bring together this group of outstanding, conceptually driven works from different generations.
The title originally refers to a rule that offers the possibility of calculating, and thus anticipating, a possible collision, a potential danger that lies ahead, from a yet still safe distance. This is usually the distance between two moving cars, taking into account the speed and braking distance. It‘s the tightest calculation to still avoid a possibly fatal encounter. On the other hand, one can roughly calculate how far away the thunderstorm is by counting how long it takes acoustically after the lightning strike until the sound of thunder arrives. Basically, it’s about assessing a risk in order to be able to take it. Within there is always an emotional side involved.
This is, to extend the example with cars, useful, as objects in the mirror are often closer then they appear. The rule of thumb, as imprecise as it is, helps to calculate, to navigate, to self-control our reaction to our perception, in a pragmatic way. What’s the use of pragmatism if not to allow cu- riosity after all? As we scroll on our phones, the thumb remains, regressed, an instance in a less proverbial way, and impulse-control is already half way. Desire thrives and frivolity isn‘t freedom. But sometimes maximum tension (and possibly truth) lies in between (the poles, several) and the que- stion is how to preserve this voltage in the creative process and then, in a work of art. For this we tear ourselves apart at times.This is pretty free of irony.
“Mistakes need to be cleaned up, but that is not the primary engine of personal or collective intel- lectual progress. What really lies beneath our feet at each moment is not a usefulness, but an inac- cessible netherworld that we can use because it is there. It is the Empire of the Capital X.” - Graham Hermann
