Shoot

arrow (70 x 1 x 1 cm)

 

If you shoot an arrow either you hit the target or you miss. There is no in-between. Success and failure are cathegories inherent to the object in use. That changes once you shoot but the target remains unclear. The simple divide is suddenly neutralized and no longer serves to judge the act. It becomes mere speculation what the shot was aimed at or if it was aimed at anything at all for that matter.

If someone fires a gun into the air it is often also hard to judge the motive inspiring the act because here the aim is shifted from an actual target to an act of expression. Whatever its intention may be it always contains the same beauty of neutralizing the sharp and lethal dialectic of missile and target.

In ancient Greek the meaning of the words “target” (intention, goal, aim) and “arrow” (missile etc.) were combined into one word (“telos”). In a strange way the arrow was already containing its destination, which consequently leaves no room for the polar opposites of success and failure. Shooting an arrow into the ceiling can be seen as an attempt to approximate this ancient condition.