“Probably a very long time ago, biographically speaking. I have always lived in more than one world, and so to a certain extent a pluralistic perspective emerges of its own accord. And also, a single discipline was not enough for me even when I was at college. Besides, I’d always been
interested in what there is ‘between’ and ‘behind’ things. Intermediates shades and ambivalences are part of social life, of every conversation. They are the way into a different world each time. And yet clarity is very important to me. But it only comes into being in a process of getting to know each other, of positioning that is always relational, and always includes the other position within it. I have also always been fascinated by what lies on the other side of a boundary. I still can’t accept boundaries – I find them arbitrary, authoritarian and negative. I see them as a positive invitation to cross over them, undermine them or walk around them. In short, biographically speaking I feel good when I can be open and curious in a lot of directions. I am also profoundly suspicious of the idea of having reached a ‘final’ position, insight or attitude. I like incomplete processes because they leave a lot of possibilities open.”
-from interview with helga nowotny