Dear Tillmann, Dear Patrizia

Patrizia Vitali, Tillmann Heinisch

„One can not force attentiveness as it is a matter of practice. This morning I sat down on a chair, taking a thick, heavy book trying to balance it on my head. This is only possible if I hold my back straight, and let my hands rest on my knees“. (TH, 10.08.2016)

Tillmann Heinisch is a scientist, Patrizia Vitali is an artist. He works in the laboratory, she works in the studio. He works with molecules, she works with pictures.

Based on a shared interest in questions of perception and attentivness a common research project has emerged, which deals with the everyday life, the body and the question of translation. How can we understand? How can we recognize? decode? Do we need our bodies for this? How important is the body for our attention?

Tillmann's work as a researcher will influence our body and our understanding of the human body in the future. However his daily work is a mystery of body movements and invisible processes for any non-expert. Can one communicate only through a common language, or is precisely the non-understanding a possible access to critical questions?

Tillmann Heinisch and Patrizia Vitali are having an unstructured, open and experimental written dialogue about the topic of attention and about their professional life. And in addition, they are recording their physical movements in the studio or in the laboratory and are going to develop an artistic work from these two sources.