Every expectation and every attempt to record a life as it has been lived, without gaps, is doomed to fail. Collisions and conflicts are continually occurring between the sensory and active self of the past and the reflecting and narrative self of the present; mental control mechanisms simply block out unpleasant events and experiences. The view of one’s own life is a corrected one, it is incomplete and beautified. The authors of autobiographies are perpetually both subject and object: they observe, are observed by themselves and offer themselves for observation by others, their readers or viewers. At the same time, putting together an autobiography allows them to see themselves as an other person, whereby the act of writing becomes a sphere in which identity is created and the autobiography itself has to be seen as an arena in which the subject is formed. Considered in this context, to write an autobiography is also to be continually re- writing one’s identity.
The exhibition covers ten main themes related to autobiography, among them the alter ego, authenticity and self- reassurance. Associated titles are displayed on wooden panels that are usually used to announce films, but which serve here as elements to structure the exhibition and emphasize, almost in a figurative sense, the construction of life stories and the influence of film stills and sequences on the writing of an autobiography.
Every expectation and every attempt to record a life as it has been lived, without gaps, is doomed to fail. Collisions and conflicts are continually occurring between the sensory and active self of the past and the reflecting and narrative self of the present; mental control mechanisms simply block out unpleasant events and experiences. The view of one’s own life is a corrected one, it is incomplete and beautified. The authors of autobiographies are perpetually both subject and object: they observe, are observed by themselves and offer themselves for observation by others, their readers or viewers. At the same time, putting together an autobiography allows them to see themselves as an other person, whereby the act of writing becomes a sphere in which identity is created and the autobiography itself has to be seen as an arena in which the subject is formed. Considered in this context, to write an autobiography is also to be continually re- writing one’s identity. The exhibition covers ten main themes related to autobiography, among them the alter ego, authenticity and self- reassurance. Associated titles are displayed on wooden panels that are usually used to announce films, but which serve here as elements to structure the exhibition and emphasize, almost in a figurative sense, the construction of life stories and the influence of film stills and sequences on the writing of an autobiography.