Kleinburger. New Photography and Video from Austria
A group show by Paul Kranzler, Gianmaria Gava, and Harald Hund & Paul Horn. Curated by Moritz Neumüller. The Austrian Embassy will be represented by Ms. Judith Düringer.
Why are small countries especially endangered by painful sex scandals, xenophobia, right-wing populists and stubborn pedantry? Is it because of an inferiority complex towards our prominent neighbour countries, a feeling of envy and hostility towards the Grand Nations, a lack of wide plains and heroic expression?
Or is it a reminiscence of our glorious Imperial or colonial past that happened to coincide with the construction of the introspective petit-bourgois society of the 19th century?
In Austria, the remains of the Biedermeier-culture have managed to survive the turmoils of two great wars, the Economic Miracle and the opening of an iron curtain that had shaded the country for four decades. Its pitiful narrow-mindedness has forged itself into the collective consciousness of a country that has been called an “ideological misconception” by one of its political leaders.
Often cynically disguised, this hidebound stubbornness coexists peacefully with the comfort (Gemütlichkeit) of living in a neutral country in the heart of Europe, and has become a facet of the Austrian Soul that persists on many levels of our public and private life. If not, how could one explain the success of Haider’s Freedom Party, the skiing excursions of Natascha Kampusch together with her kidnapper, or the “sincere astonishment” of Mr. Fritzl’s neighbours about the ongoings in the House of Terror? Or, put in another way: Is this still the same inherent malignancy of the Austrian society that writers such as Thomas Bernhard or Elfriede Jelinek, film-makers such as Michael Haneke or Ulrich Seidl and artists such as the Viennese Actionists have fought so violently against?
The new generation of visual artists living and working in Austria are actually pointing at the same problems, yet with an ironic smile, a detached sobriety, a quiet self-reflection, and an analytical gaze at seemingly atavistic traditions. Have they finally understood that art cannot change society, or are they just adapting to an art world that is driven by money, the levelling of cultural differences and the fun-factor?
Gianmaria Gava dares an expedition into the world of the Schrebergärten (allotment gardens). Harald Hund and Paul Horn drop the furniture of a typical Austrian living-room from five meters above the earth and Paul Kranzler opens his personal family album for us and presents the life in the Austrian countryside.
Thus, this small exhibition aims to give a glimpse on the question of contemporary artistic creation in a country that is known for its mountains and musical culture, its gastronomic and Imperialist heritage, its scandals and its refusal to learn from history.
Moritz Neumüller, born in Linz (Austria) in 1972, works as a freelance curator in Barcelona. He has worked for the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1999-2000), PHotoEspaña, the Spanish Festival of Photography and Visual Arts, in the editions of 2004-2007, and the International Video Festival LOOP Barcelona, in its edition of 2008. Since 2006, he is appointed lecturer to the Department of Art History of the University of Vienna, and in 2011 will direct the European Master of Fine Art Photography in Madrid.
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