Return to Reason 12th Video Program

Return to Reason takes its name from the 1923 film by Man Ray, Le retour à la raison. Like in Man Ray’s film, there is no return and, most of all, no reason in his Dada pronunciation. This program explores the issues of reason and its lack thereof; the apparent different rationale of early surrealist films; the pre-eminence of the ID in human matters; "reason" as a God-given right to impose one’s culture and influence in a military fashion. As Man Ray’s experimental short indicates, reason can be pretext for all human actions, but it is only a pretext.

The work of Samuel Beckett, Christoph Büchel, Bruce Nauman, Man Ray, Hans Richter, Ugo Rondinone, and Lucas Samaras were presented in the video program.

Curator: Paolo Colombo