Concept

What’s the story of the ‘Nagelaten Geschriften’ by Benedictus Spinoza (1632-1677)? When we started exploring this museum piece, we soon discovered there were actually many.

There is of course the content of the book itself: the controversial writings of Spinoza in which he admired reason and stated that god was no supernatural being. Then there is the story of how he published the books, as penalties for these kinds of statements were severe in the 17th century Christian society and Spinoza and his publisher were forced to publish his books anonymously. But then, how do we know he is the author? That again is an interesting, almost detective like (and recent) story. And finally, what if we transfer this story to our contemporary life: would you dare publishing your opinion today if you lived in a country without freedom of speech?

With our installation we’d like the visitor to explore the book and its stories as we did. An interactive replica of the book allows the visitor to learn about Spinoza through a projected animated video and to be a researcher, using a digital magnifier to discover clues which confirm Spinoza was the writer. Finally it puts the visitor to the (facebook) test: to what extent does he/she dare expressing his/her opinion? 

Concept by: Ed de Heer, Judith Bal, Sunny Jansen & Dorien Theuns