• Inspired by the works of Gregory Bateson, Erwin Schrödinger and Heinz von Foerster, Fahrner created a collection of 49 books (19 × 26 cm), 32 posters with photographs, and 5 books measuring 26 × 36 cm.

  The pattern is not a fixed one: it is more of a dance that moves in a steady series of changing nuances. Finding its variations and recording them in text and images was the subject of this exhibition.

  The following principles applied:

  • We see things not as they are, but as we are. (Talmud)}
  • I see us as climates over which storms threaten, before breaking elsewhere. (Fernando Pessoa)
  • … what / SPLENDOUR / IT ALL COHERES. (Ezra Pound)
  • But we wake up sometimes, just enough to know that we are dreaming. (Ludwig Wittgenstein)
  • The human understanding is of its own nature prone to suppose the existence of more order and regularity in the world than it finds. (Francis Bacon)
  • There is no ‘I’ and no Other. And thus there is no loneliness. Loneliness is an ‘I’ state. (b.f.)

Barbara Fahrner

Born in 1940, lives and works in Frankfurt am Main. – Studied medicine and art education. – 1982: Begins work on her artist’s books. – 1986 to 1987: The Kunstkammerprojekt, exhibited in Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, and Switzerland. – 1992: Fellow of the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel. – From 1992: Regular collaborations with Granary Books, New York; regular working visits to New York lasting several months. – 1997 to 2002: Die zweite Enzyklopädie von Tlön in collaboration with Markus and Fitnat Fahrner. – From 2009: Work on the project das Muster, das verbindet.

Works held by museums, libraries and private collections in Germany, England, the Netherlands, the USA, France, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand.  Selection: Düren – Leopold-Hoesch-Museum; Frankfurt am Main – Museum für Angewandte Kunst und Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek; Mannheim – Kunsthalle; Munich – Bayerische Staatsbibliothek; Wolfenbüttel – Herzog August Bibliothek; Mainz – Gutenberg Museum; Offenbach – Klingspor Museum; Den Haag – Rijksmuseum Meermanno-Westreenianum; London – Victoria and Albert Museum; Madison, WI – Elvehjem Museum of Art. Also in numerous American libraries, including Cambridge – Harvard University; Washington, DC – The Library of Congress; Miami-Beach – The Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive; New York City – Collection of Steve Clay.