Unknowing That Knows Not
120 company avertisments & slogans
GASK, Kutná Hora, 2019

The exhibition Unknowing That Knows Not is derived from an idea that first appeared in Plato‘s The Apology of Socrates. A part of this dialogue is the resolution of a question spoken at the Oracle at Delphi. Here, Chaerephon asked if there was any person on earth wiser than Socrates. The god Apollo replied through a Pythian prophetess that there was no wiser man on earth. Socrates himself did not accept this godly statement and tried to cast doubt upon it. He first pondered man as an independent individual who did not have to consult deities and who resolved his problems individually. Over two thousand years later, in 1930, a horoscope was published in the British newspaper The Sunday Express. This started the great influence of daily horoscopes, which people not only started to believe in; they also began to base their lives on them. This leads to a paradox where the world and civilization are constantly developing and improving, and despite this there are people who believe in horoscopes and prophecies, thus losing their individuality and independence. Through his interactive installation, Pavel Tichoň goes even further, and his random replies to questions regarding relationships, family, love, health, money, work, ego, transformations and death begin with the slogans of multinational corporations that can be an answer to everything and to nothing. The artist plays with the human mind, which is capable of imagining different realities. Ultimately, the Nike company slogan Just do it! can be the answer to all questions.