With Flecke international, I explore the local unconscious in collaboration with residents at various locations worldwide. In August and September 2024 I worked in Skagaströnd, a village with 484 inhabitants on the northwest coast of Iceland.

Making and interpreting blots
41 residents make random blots with me and share what they see in them: drip watercolour onto paper, fold the sheet, unfold it — and the blot is there. I ask, What could this be? and record all the interpretations.

About 100 years ago, the Swiss psychoanalyst Hermann Rorschach developed the so-called Rorschach inkblot test, in which participants are typically asked to interpret a standardised set of ten blot images.

Rorschach conducted numerous material experiments and inkblot trials before selecting ten blots that he considered suitable as the basis for the test. They were printed and distributed worldwide. The Rorschach Archive of the Medical History Library at the University of Bern holds various editions of these test sets in its collection.

The Unconscious

The participants’ associations of the inkblots were to be recorded in detail and were intended to provide insights into their personalities. Rorschach aimed to use his test to access the unconscious mind of individual participants and to analyse it scientifically.
The unconscious is a concept from psychology that describes a hidden mental instance within us, to which we have no direct rational access.
The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud believed that the unconscious is the place where experiences we cannot directly process are stored or repressed without our awareness. Repression helps protect us when a situation feels overwhelming. However, if we never recognise or deal with these hidden issues, they can still affect us, influencing our actions and causing new difficulties or conflicts.
Gaining access to the unconscious is therefore regarded in psychology as an important step towards better understanding our own behaviour and addressing, changing, or resolving conflicts with ourselves and others.
In moments when we are not controlling our rational mind — for example, when we are dreaming or interpreting random blot patterns — we can gain access to our unconscious.

In the Village

I modify the method: What emerges when an entire village creates its own blots and interprets them? What local, social, economic, political, and atmospheric characteristics will become visible? What individual or collective insights can the interpretations offer? And how might they potentially have an impact in the local context and be put to productive use in Skagaströnd?
A collective exploration of the local unconscious.

Making blots in the supermarket.

Blots are also made in offices, at school, in people’s homes, on the street, at the petrol station, in the NES studio, and at the Spákonuhof/ Museum of Prophecies.

Interpretations are gradually realised.

Depending on personal preferences and abilities, the participating residents and I manifest them in various forms — for example, as a video, drawing, text message, photograph, or an interview.
It becomes clear that interpretations can serve as a kind of instruction for action — for instance, prompting someone to carry out a scaphoid bone diagnosis or to attempt to recreate the scent of a giraffe.
At the same time, they sharpen the perception of what already exists in the village and can simply be discovered — like the dog memorial for a dog that didn’t beg.

I invite people to public events such as open studios at the NES artist residency or a giraffe walk.

And I take part in local activities myself — for example, by creating a light installation for the Þorrablót party — a manifestation of blot no. 290b.

Karen Winzer

With my artistic work, I explore social situations in various places. Architectural, political, or historical peculiarities can serve as starting points—for example, a construction flaw in the Cologne Philharmonic, a controversial large-scale construction site in Berlin, or the starkly different development on two sides of a street in a city in Eastern Germany, shaped by political system changes.
I engage with local people and invite them to collaborate: their perspectives, interests, and skills shape the working process.
With Flecke international, I now use the local unconscious as the starting point of my cooperative research.

and all

Flecke international Skagaströnd was made possible through the openness and involvement of the residents of Skagaströnd (as well as Sauðárkrókur and Berlin), by contributing to various manifestations or by supporting in countless often unseen ways: Arnar Ólafur Viggósson, Arnór Tumi Finnsson, Arnrún Ragnheiðardóttir, Dagný Hildur Þorgeirsdóttir, Einar Ó. Þorleifsson, Elín Ósk Ómarsdóttir, Eva Dís, Eydís Inga Sigurjónsdóttir, Friðrik Bergmann Kristjánsson, Halldór/Hólanes, Heiða, Hrafnhildur Sigurðardóttir, Hrönn Håkansson, Ines Meier, Judith Maria Scheja, Kristbjörg Dúfa Ragnheiðardóttir, Lárus Ægir Guðmundsson, Ragnar, Tómas Árdal, Valtýr Sigurðsson, Vicki O'Shea, Villi, and Zoe Chronis.

hallo@karenwinzer.de
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