Know-How
Participatory Installation, 2024
First presented in a 2-person exhibition entitled How To / Know How with Beata Szabo at Art Quarter Budapest, HU
With performers Imre Vass and Agnes Grelinger
Know-How is an active installation environment that invites participants to creatively re-imagine their health in relationship with one another and their environment. The project draws on an archive of remedies for mental, physical, and emotional health collected from communities in heterogenous contexts of US, Europe, and the Global South through the artist’s ongoing project, Social Pharmacy (2021-current). Know-How builds upon this archive by re-presenting community health knowledge in a functional installation environment that is equal parts kitchen, playground, and laboratory. Continuing the tradition of artist "scores" popularized by John Cage and Hans Ulrich Obrist, the installation features playing cards with instructions for health remedies written by community members and invites new interpretations by audience members. Through the audience’s inter-actions, ingredients are moved and intermixed, causing the installation to evolve over time. This process visually reflects the messiness and interconnection of interpersonal care and facilitates dialog and exploration between participants.
"I was struck by how each piece challenged traditional ways of knowing, exploring the boundaries between the conscious and unconscious, the known and unknown. The exhibition featured personal remedy recipes on cards within the installation, making the experience feel more connected and actionable – almost like providing a guide for engaging with the art and its themes…As a curator, it was essential for me to see how the exhibition communicated with its audience. The interactivity and exchanges that arose during the viewing showed just how deeply art can influence our perception and understanding. This reaffirmed the importance of creating spaces where such interactions can take place."
- Anna Galeeva (PAS Berlin)
