Defamiliarization is an invitation to break away from what we see, experience, and - without realizing - repeat every day. This project is founded on the concept of estrangement, where art disrupts the order of the everyday and offers the audience a renewed encounter. k The participating artists, through their use of form, space, time, and the play of signs and objects, create possibilities for an alternative mode of perception - one that detaches the viewer from habitual frameworks and calls for a rethinking of life, the surrounding world, and even one’s own inner self. kDefamiliarization is not merely a technique or a formal device; it is a means of unsettling fixed meanings, opening new paths of understanding, and shaping a shared experience between artist and audience. The works on view seek to estrange what we take for granted - so that, through this estrangement, reality may be seen and lived with renewed force. j Ultimately, “Defamiliarization” urges us to ask: If nothing were familiar, how would we see, how would we listen, how would we live again?
Ramin Saeidian
Art Researcher