Zones of Unknowing, or the Experiencing of Inhuman Encounters
Journal
L'uomo nero
ISSN-Digital
2974-6620
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2025
Author(s)
Abstract
Installation art and the curation of immersive experiential environments occupy a recognizable position within the broader field of relations between art and ecological thought, thanks to their emphasis on direct experience. This essay looks at two recent projects: Gian Maria Tosatti’s History of the Night and Destiny of the Comets (2022) and Pierre Huyghe’s Liminal (2024). Their approaches converge toward complementary encounters with the inhuman: the speculation of permanent human extinction—or disanthropy—and the emergence of non-human witnessing. This essay analyzes their work as different configurations of “zones of unknowing”: spaces that are defined by strategic indeterminacy and open-ended experiential conditions.
The analysis moves beyond viewing these works as devices for visualizing hyperobjects, finding further potential in their ability to manifest zones where visitors encounter modes of existence that exceed human understanding. While Tosatti’s forensic imaginary stages a proleptic encounter with human absence, Huyghe’s work functions as a cyber-physical system where sensors, computational processes, and robotic movements are integrated into continuous feedback loops. The act of unknowing operates as undoing, or unlearning, and as a confrontation with the limits of human mastery. Encounters facilitated by emerging technologies of the inhuman that induce states of ontological porosity. By bridging environmental humanities scholarship with art theory and art-historical discourse, the essay focuses on how these spaces function through bodily presence, briefly examining an earlier historical lineage in the work of Gino De Dominicis.
The analysis moves beyond viewing these works as devices for visualizing hyperobjects, finding further potential in their ability to manifest zones where visitors encounter modes of existence that exceed human understanding. While Tosatti’s forensic imaginary stages a proleptic encounter with human absence, Huyghe’s work functions as a cyber-physical system where sensors, computational processes, and robotic movements are integrated into continuous feedback loops. The act of unknowing operates as undoing, or unlearning, and as a confrontation with the limits of human mastery. Encounters facilitated by emerging technologies of the inhuman that induce states of ontological porosity. By bridging environmental humanities scholarship with art theory and art-historical discourse, the essay focuses on how these spaces function through bodily presence, briefly examining an earlier historical lineage in the work of Gino De Dominicis.
Abstract (De)
Installationskunst und die Kuratierung immersiver Erfahrungsräume nehmen dank ihrer Betonung unmittelbarer Erfahrung eine erkennbare Position innerhalb des breiteren Feldes der Beziehungen zwischen Kunst und ökologischem Denken ein. Dieser Essay betrachtet zwei jüngere Projekte: Gian Maria Tosattis History of the Night and Destiny of the Comets (2022) und Pierre Huyghes Liminal (2024). Ihre Ansätze konvergieren in komplementären Begegnungen mit dem Nicht-Menschlichen: der Spekulation über das dauerhafte Aussterben der Menschheit – oder Disanthropie – und dem Auftreten nicht-menschlicher Zeugenschaft. Dieser Essay analysiert ihre Arbeiten als unterschiedliche Konfigurationen von „Zonen des Nicht-Wissens": Räume, die durch strategische Unbestimmtheit und ergebnisoffene Erfahrungsbedingungen definiert sind.
Die Analyse geht über eine Betrachtung dieser Werke als Instrumente zur Visualisierung von Hyperobjekten hinaus und findet weiteres Potenzial in ihrer Fähigkeit, Zonen zu erzeugen, in denen Besuchende Existenzweisen begegnen, die das menschliche Verständnis übersteigen. Während Tosattis forensisches Imaginäres eine proleptische Begegnung mit menschlicher Abwesenheit inszeniert, funktioniert Huyghes Werk als cyber-physisches System, in dem Sensoren, rechnergestützte Prozesse und robotische Bewegungen in kontinuierliche Rückkopplungsschleifen integriert sind. Der Akt des Nicht-Wissens fungiert als Rückgängigmachung oder Verlernen und als Konfrontation mit den Grenzen menschlicher Beherrschung – Begegnungen, die durch aufkommende Technologien des Nicht-Menschlichen ermöglicht werden und Zustände ontologischer Porosität hervorrufen. Indem der Essay Forschungsansätze der Environmental Humanities mit Kunsttheorie und kunsthistorischem Diskurs verbindet, richtet er den Fokus darauf, wie diese Räume durch körperliche Präsenz wirken, und untersucht dabei kurz eine frühere historische Linie im Werk von Gino De Dominicis.
Die Analyse geht über eine Betrachtung dieser Werke als Instrumente zur Visualisierung von Hyperobjekten hinaus und findet weiteres Potenzial in ihrer Fähigkeit, Zonen zu erzeugen, in denen Besuchende Existenzweisen begegnen, die das menschliche Verständnis übersteigen. Während Tosattis forensisches Imaginäres eine proleptische Begegnung mit menschlicher Abwesenheit inszeniert, funktioniert Huyghes Werk als cyber-physisches System, in dem Sensoren, rechnergestützte Prozesse und robotische Bewegungen in kontinuierliche Rückkopplungsschleifen integriert sind. Der Akt des Nicht-Wissens fungiert als Rückgängigmachung oder Verlernen und als Konfrontation mit den Grenzen menschlicher Beherrschung – Begegnungen, die durch aufkommende Technologien des Nicht-Menschlichen ermöglicht werden und Zustände ontologischer Porosität hervorrufen. Indem der Essay Forschungsansätze der Environmental Humanities mit Kunsttheorie und kunsthistorischem Diskurs verbindet, richtet er den Fokus darauf, wie diese Räume durch körperliche Präsenz wirken, und untersucht dabei kurz eine frühere historische Linie im Werk von Gino De Dominicis.
Language
English
Keywords
contemporary art
installation art
environmental humanities
zones of unknowing
disanthropy
anthropocene
pierre huyghe
gianmaria tosatti
gino de dominicis
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Università degli studi di Milano
Publisher place
Milano
Volume
22
Number
22-24
Start page
429
End page
446
Pages
18
Subject(s)
Division(s)
References
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