At a time when the significance of the unconscious has still not been explained, it functions rather as proof of artistic individuality. It still represents a mode of self-reference and self-observation and as such has an existential significance. The paintings, drawings, watercolours, videos and sculptures of Nschotschi Haslinger, Christof Mascher and E. S. Mayorga deal with existence as a kind of problematic dream for the self. The dubious nature of existence is put across in metaphors. André Breton’s assertion that “for us today reality is at stake”, must be amended to read that for us today what is at stake is the reality of the self.