Das Unheimliche concept as a practical tool
“Etymology of the word Das Unheimliche is derived from the semantic core Das Heim (home), and further to that, heimlich – belonging to home . German word Heimat can be translated as home or hearth. Home, in its figurative meaning, as opposed to the physical space, a house or a building.. Other variations include: Heimatstadt (town of birth), Heimatland (land of birth), Heimaterde (home soil), and Heimatliebe (patriotism).
Das Heim also refers to something obscure, something sidelined and kept away, invisible; thus it is best expressed by its pseudo-negation, Das (Un)heimliche. It is about the unsettling, unexpected closeness between the familiar and the unfamiliar: when the familiar appears enclosed within an unrecognizable shape or an unfamiliar phenomenon; or conversely, when the unfamiliar reveals itself as close, familiar. The semantic field of the word Das Heim (something assumed as close), becomes the semiotic code where different meanings and their constellations establish an expectations horizon.
In a way Das Unheimliche can be considered a subcategory of Das Heimliche, not its negation, but rather a positive offspring. Das Heimliche is a unique homonym: it conveys the meaning of domestic, known, but simultaneously, the unknown, foreign, secretive. Das Heimliche therefore inexplicably (unheimlich) transforms into its opposite. This is the turning point: because of the impossibility to be fully comprehended, the concept defies adequate explanation, it resists, therefore becoming intimidating.
Das Unheimliche, meaning unfamiliar, uncanny, eerie, sinister, is a negation of its original meaning Das Heimliche, although both meanings coincide. It appears that sometimes in defining a term, the intuition takes over, increasing the complexity of the relationship between familiar, close and peculiar. Even frightening. Uniqueness of Das Unheimliche lies in the fact that something is intimidating not because it is new or unknown, but because what was once known, has now changed, becoming peculiar.”*
Das Unheimliche is therefore, largely untranslatable. The series of photographs is an attempt to fill this gap, by means of different imagery narratives aiming to capture and frame the elusive Das Unhemliche phenomenon, and demonstrate that it defines our present tense, existence, and lives to a large extent.
Fragmentation, excess, and absence of cyclicity , all hallmarks of our reality, inflict an exhausting, intimidating discontinuity upon us. What we know and what we have learnt comes back modified enough to compromise our experience and make it worthless, imparting menacing discomfort. The futility of commencing a controllable cycle dissipates our energy; exhausting entropy brings back our reality distorted. The same, and yet unrecognisable. Brutal variations of context that render our text imprecise and useless, are the very characteristics of our reality as well as the term Das Unheimliche.
The photographs are formed on these premises, in such a way that the series of visual samples of our experience emerged, recognizing traces of Die Unheimliche concept without knowing its name, sketching its outline and bringing the joy of recognition.
The ratio of symmetry, reflection, and the subsequent fulfilment, systematisation of the unknown that transforms into known, insight into relations and their connections – isomorphism, finally brings about comprehension, catharsis.
Capturing the narrative and expressing it in the photographic plane, we experience different thematic encounters:
Various visual samples of the city, city that we know, that we live in, yet addressing us in an unexpected manner.
A series of photographs illustrating escape, escapism; a desire to construct predictability , then step out into pleasure and beauty. And the ensuing instability, unbearable instability, and the impossibility to hold on to the desired position. The repeated attempts. Touching and respect-worthy. And so slippery.
A house . Immediate and the least risky attempt to illuminate the Das Unheimliche concept. Emptiness. Departure, abandonment. Multitude of reasons, valid reasons, different reasons, meaning nothing. Predictability.
*Mariela Cvetic, Das Unheimliche, Psychoanalytical and Cultural Theories of Space, published by Orion Art and University of Belgrade, Faculty of Architecture
Das Heim also refers to something obscure, something sidelined and kept away, invisible; thus it is best expressed by its pseudo-negation, Das (Un)heimliche. It is about the unsettling, unexpected closeness between the familiar and the unfamiliar: when the familiar appears enclosed within an unrecognizable shape or an unfamiliar phenomenon; or conversely, when the unfamiliar reveals itself as close, familiar. The semantic field of the word Das Heim (something assumed as close), becomes the semiotic code where different meanings and their constellations establish an expectations horizon.
In a way Das Unheimliche can be considered a subcategory of Das Heimliche, not its negation, but rather a positive offspring. Das Heimliche is a unique homonym: it conveys the meaning of domestic, known, but simultaneously, the unknown, foreign, secretive. Das Heimliche therefore inexplicably (unheimlich) transforms into its opposite. This is the turning point: because of the impossibility to be fully comprehended, the concept defies adequate explanation, it resists, therefore becoming intimidating.
Das Unheimliche, meaning unfamiliar, uncanny, eerie, sinister, is a negation of its original meaning Das Heimliche, although both meanings coincide. It appears that sometimes in defining a term, the intuition takes over, increasing the complexity of the relationship between familiar, close and peculiar. Even frightening. Uniqueness of Das Unheimliche lies in the fact that something is intimidating not because it is new or unknown, but because what was once known, has now changed, becoming peculiar.”*
Das Unheimliche is therefore, largely untranslatable. The series of photographs is an attempt to fill this gap, by means of different imagery narratives aiming to capture and frame the elusive Das Unhemliche phenomenon, and demonstrate that it defines our present tense, existence, and lives to a large extent.
Fragmentation, excess, and absence of cyclicity , all hallmarks of our reality, inflict an exhausting, intimidating discontinuity upon us. What we know and what we have learnt comes back modified enough to compromise our experience and make it worthless, imparting menacing discomfort. The futility of commencing a controllable cycle dissipates our energy; exhausting entropy brings back our reality distorted. The same, and yet unrecognisable. Brutal variations of context that render our text imprecise and useless, are the very characteristics of our reality as well as the term Das Unheimliche.
The photographs are formed on these premises, in such a way that the series of visual samples of our experience emerged, recognizing traces of Die Unheimliche concept without knowing its name, sketching its outline and bringing the joy of recognition.
The ratio of symmetry, reflection, and the subsequent fulfilment, systematisation of the unknown that transforms into known, insight into relations and their connections – isomorphism, finally brings about comprehension, catharsis.
Capturing the narrative and expressing it in the photographic plane, we experience different thematic encounters:
Various visual samples of the city, city that we know, that we live in, yet addressing us in an unexpected manner.
A series of photographs illustrating escape, escapism; a desire to construct predictability , then step out into pleasure and beauty. And the ensuing instability, unbearable instability, and the impossibility to hold on to the desired position. The repeated attempts. Touching and respect-worthy. And so slippery.
A house . Immediate and the least risky attempt to illuminate the Das Unheimliche concept. Emptiness. Departure, abandonment. Multitude of reasons, valid reasons, different reasons, meaning nothing. Predictability.
*Mariela Cvetic, Das Unheimliche, Psychoanalytical and Cultural Theories of Space, published by Orion Art and University of Belgrade, Faculty of Architecture
