Lecture performance showcases the power of language
Listeners are forced to ask what the artist is doing—and what they are doing themselves
A BEARDED SWEDE in a three-piece suit stands at a lectern. Spotlit, Erik Bünger tells his listeners about an exchange between Ludwig Wittgenstein and Bertrand Russell in 1911. According to Wittgenstein, Russell could not say with certainty that there was no rhinoceros in his study. Mr Bünger (pictured) says he is not interested in who was right, but in why Wittgenstein chose a rhinoceros. “There was certainly an elephant in the room,” he concludes. “And that elephant was a rhinoceros.”
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Do not think of a white bear”
From the February 23rd 2019 edition
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