Secret Unknowns
Digital video
silent
looped
2002-2005
Set against a sunset, a quote from a press briefing on February 12, 2002 by former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reads as follows: “There are known knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don’t know. We just don’t know.” The statement was made by Mr. Rumsfeld in relation to the unstable situation of the post-invasion of Iraq in answer to a question by a reporter at the press briefing. The statement was widely regarded as elusive and conceited, while at the same time, the statement may also be read as reflecting an insightful philosophical truth.