Creativity is an ability that everyone has by nature. It is the basic capability for creative behaviour. Not only is it important for art, but for all matters of life. As the ability to induce something new that far exceeds what we already know, creativity is an active act – action not spectatorship. 

Creativity effects change and does not stick to already existing facts. Each of the artworks around us has changed the notion of art – and by this way us. This kind of art stands for development, progress, and innovation. Speaking in a larger context this means: Creativity, as experienced in these works, is what our society highly needs in order to develop. 

Creativity is the expression of our individuality. It comes out of us and its immediate "neighbour" within us is our respective consciousness. This consciousness is the image of the world that everyone of us has. And this image differs from person to person. But the world itself is what it is – and, to be sure, it is completely independent of the consciousness that we have of the world. 

It has to be absolutely clear to us that the world is a whole. And with my subjective consciousness, I am a part of this whole. The more aware I become of the world, the more freely I can move within. If I am open to the world, I will be able to deal with its actualities – always in accordance with the whole and without causing damage by my behaviour. 

It is my consciousness that has to approximate the facts of the world – not vice versa. I mustn't think that I can adapt the world to my consciousness. Such an attitude is not only arrogant but in the end it may even be lethal. It is based on a lie – a lie to myself as well as to others. History as well as the present offer plenty examples of the consequences. 

We gain a consciousness of the world by means of perception. And perception is the focus of all our efforts. I do not mean any perception but a creative act of perceiving: perception as an individual act, not as the confirmation of something we already know, or the adoption of something predetermined. What I mean is the act of perceiving the – still – unknown. 

Such a perception requires an effort, a creative act. For in order to touch upon our consciousness, the perception has to open the structure to become receptive. And our consciousness can only open up if what we see contains a powerful energy. Then newness can enter us. Then our understanding broadens and a consciousness can develop of which the acts affect society. What we call culture is nothing other than the consciousness of a society. 

It has to be understood that culture is not the accumulation of objects; culture is a process. Our consciousness itself is a process. The attentive perception of the whole leads to a continuous expansion of what we know. He who believes he could prevent this process has understood nothing from this world. 

I believe that all our attention must be directed to perceiving the world creatively – including ourselves. Only with this ever evolving consciousness can we act constructively and creatively. 

The Hallen für Neue Kunst is a space where creative perception can happen. It offers plenty of impulses that might open our consciousness. The process of becoming aware of it is everybody's own affair. 

This is the way we would wish you to use the Hallen für Neue Kunst. The Hallen is not here because of the art, it is here together with the art for you. And this is my great wish: do not watch, do not react passively – but move full of attention from being a spectator to a person involved – and thus become a creatively acting person yourself. Let the Hallen für Neue Kunst be a means to this aim. 

Thank you very much! 

ucr/2010.02