On the occasion of the opening of OLAFUR ELIASSON – BAROQUE BAROQUE, Belvedere and Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary are hosting a roundtable discussion in the lavish Marble Hall of Prince Eugene’s Upper Belvedere. At the event, which explores different notions of world making, Eliasson, physicist Aurélien Barrau, philosopher Mirjam Schaub, and curator Daniela Zyman come together to discuss creativity and knowledge production, as well as the expressive transgressions of reality and illusion that are evident both in the Baroque and in Eliasson’s work.

How are we to understand terms such as real and fictional, model versus reality? Are we still inclined to regard the scientific process as a benchmark for understanding and as a paradigm of knowledge production, or has the archive of ideas (valid and obsolete, scientific, philosophical, artistic, and political) long grown detached from such projects of framing, defining, and proving? Can “baroque reason”, with its stylistic and rhetorical dramatization, mobilize the creation of new and old worlds?

Aurélien Barrau is a French physicist and philosopher, who specializes in astroparticle physics, black holes and cosmology at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS).
Mirjam Schaub has been Professor of Aesthetics and Cultural Philosophy at the University for Applied Science (HAW) in Hamburg since 2012.
Daniela Zyman is chief curator at Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary and co-curator of OLAFUR ELIASSON – BAROQUE BAROQUE.