Horizons of Perception
Perspective
25.11.2026
Image Credits
Date
25.11.2026
Time
5pm - 7pm
Location
Kunsthaus Graz, Space01
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About the
Event
Guests: Julian Blunk (Department of Art History and Musicology, University of Graz), Christian Fischer (University of Gießen), Valerie Messini (Architect, Vienna), Moderation: Katia Huemer (Kunsthaus Graz)
Mirrors and the play of reflection are recurring elements in Eva Schlegel’s work. For Schlegel, the mirror serves a dual purpose: it exposes while simultaneously protecting and concealing. These reflections distort and challenge our human positioning, forcing us to question what is real and what is merely an appearance. This exploration of perspective extends into the realms of physics and philosophy, prompting us to ask: From what position do we observe the world? Is changing our perspective a purely subjective experience? Furthermore, what does "perspective" mean in the context of physics, and does a shift in perspective alter our narrative or even our scientific paradigms?
Horizons of Perception
Horizons of Perception is an invitation to move around the edges of what we know – and to look beyond.
As a part of the thematic focus of Kunsthaus Graz in 2027 Outer Spaces, Horizons of Perception is a series of lectures and conversations that opens spaces between disciplines, perspectives, and ways of thinking and grasping the reality around us.
Each encounter begins with a selected concept/keyword, which are connected also to the exhibitions forming nods and reference points where fields and disciplines meet and intersect, allowing perspectives from the humanities and the arts, philosophy and physics to overlap, resonate, and unfold alongside one another.
Rather than seeking a single answer, Horizons of Perception invites us to move across different horizons of thought: to look at familiar questions from unfamiliar angles, to trace connections between seemingly distant perspectives, and to explore how our ways of perceiving the world are shaped, challenged, and expanded.
Taking place once a month at Kunsthaus Graz, the series is open to all and free of charge. Each gathering takes one of two forms: three short lectures, bringing distinct perspectives into dialogue, or a collective discussion in which ideas can meet, diverge and take unexpected directions.
The series is developed in collaboration with the University of Graz - the Department of Philosophy, the Institute of Physics and the interdisciplinary core research area Perception: Episteme, Aesthetics, Politics at the Faculty of Humanities – as part of the annual programme at Kunsthaus Graz in 2027, Outer Spaces, devoted to exploring ideas and concepts of space.
University of Graz | Institute of Physics, Department of Philosophy and the interdisciplinary core research area Perception: Episteme, Aesthetics, Politics at the Faculty of Humanities
Further information
This conversation will be conducted in German.
Christian Fischer has been a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Giessen (Germany) since 2010. After earning a master’s degree in philosophy and a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Tübingen (Germany), he conducted research at the University of Heidelberg (Germany), the IPPP in Durham (UK), and the Technical University of Darmstadt (Germany). His work focuses on fundamental problems in particle physics: What are the properties of the elementary building blocks of matter, and where do they get their mass just a few microseconds after the Big Bang? He is the chief editor of the *Encyclopedia of Particle Physics* as well as the review journal *Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics*. As director of the “International School of Nuclear Physics” in Erice, Sicily, he places special emphasis on the training of the next generation of scientists.
Julian Blunk’s current research focuses—which also shape his work as an editor for *kritische berichte*—are architecture, sculpture, and painting of Historicism and Modernism, with a particular interest in political iconography, theories of cultural memory and heritage, theories of style and fashion, the history of science—as well as, time and again, photography and film. He has also conducted intensive research on early modern funerary sculpture and Baroque ceiling painting. Postcolonial and gender studies form an integral part of his research, which is consistently interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary in orientation.
Valerie Messini is an architect, digital artist, and Senior Scientist at the Weibel Institute for Digital Cultures, where she researches the void and empty space, applying digital technologies to questions of space, identity, and perception; her doctoral thesis "void set – on emptiness in virtual space" was supervised by Peter Weibel and later Clemens Apprich. After graduating with distinction in architecture from the University of Applied Arts Vienna (2011), she worked for international firms, has been a chartered civil engineer (Ziviltechnikerin) since 2017, and has taught at the ./studio3 in Innsbruck and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna; in 2018 she co-founded the artistic collaboration 2MVD with Damjan Minovski. Her works have been shown at the Vienna Design Week, GIFF Geneva, MAK Vienna, and the Sonar+D Festival, among others.
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