By the madness which interrupts it, a work of art opens a void, a mo-
ment of silence, a question without answer, provokes a breach without
reconciliation where the world is forced to question itself.
—FOUCAULT, MADNESS AND CIVILIZATION
I would like to blur the firm borders that we human beings, cocksure
as we are, are inclined to erect around everything that is accessible to
us.... I want to show that small can be large, and large small, it is
just the standpoint from which we judge that changes, and every con-
cept loses its validity, and all our human gestures lose their validity. I
also want to show that there are millions and millions of other justifi-
able points of view beside yours and mine. Today I would portray the
world from an ant’s eye view and tomorrow, as the moon sees it, per-
haps, and then as many other creatures may see it. I am a human
being, but on the strength of my imagination—tied as it is—I can be a
bridge.
—HANNAH HOCH, CATALOG FOREWORD TO HOCH’S FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION AT THE
KUNSTZAAL DE BRON, THE HAGUE
INTRODUCTIONNew Taxidermy Surfaces in Contemporary Art