This is not a gallery!

Lena Lapschina “This is not a gallery!” 2021 light object 130 by 160 cm [exhibition view] © Lena Lapschina / Verena Mayrhofer
Lena Lapschina “This is not a gallery!” 2021 light object 130 by 160 cm [exhibition view] © Lena Lapschina / Verena Mayrhofer
Lena Lapschina “This is not a gallery!” 2021 light object 130 by 160 cm [exhibition view] © Lena Lapschina / Verena Mayrhofer

With her hastily scrawled note “This is not a gallery!”, complete with exclamation marks and double underlines, Lena Lapschina sows confusion in the shop window. Passers-by find themselves engaging in self-dialogues. “This is not a gallery!” they murmur. “So what is it then? What’s happening here?” Through this work, Lena Lapschina highlights the decorative-aesthetic function of the glass case in urban space and the voids that emerge when the rhythm of stores and commerce is disrupted.

I’m citing here the catalogue for the schaudrei exhibit at ent, where my latest light object, “This is not a gallery!”, is on display.

The above-stated confusion, I have to admit, is produced by taking a means of advertising (the “neon” sign), letting it glow, and injecting the word “not”.

Shout-out: The beautiful photographs here were shot on location by Verena Mayrhofer.

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“Hadrian” at the Industrial Art Biennial

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The 4th Industrial Art Biennial, curated by Paolo Bianchi and Christoph Doswald, is up and running, and so is my piece, a media installation of four video streams with sound. It’s called “Hadrian”, and it’s a road movie, and it’s “not about what happens on this journey, but what Hadrian experiences in his head” (writes Paolo Bianchi in the catalogue).

The project resonates with the biennial’s theme, “Landscapes of Desire”, which confronts the viewer with longings, hopes and dreams and is a space for thought and playfulness and a workshop for the future.

Hadrian, the main character, is ready to explore the meaning of life. He does not lack earthly luxury – nevertheless, one day he sets out in search of a better life. He makes an attempt to escape the previous version of his life. This demands all his strength.

Join Hadrian on his journey: “Landscapes of Desire” – 4th Industrial Art Biennial, Labin, Istria: 13 May – 30 June 2023 extended to 29 July 2023. At the Pijacal.

Glyptophilia: the catalogue. Get it on Apple Books!

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Glyptophilia, my sculpture in public space, has got a beautiful companion! It’s a multi-media catalogue, so you can listen to an essay, flip through pics, enjoy a flight past the vineyards, and read the English and (partly) German texts by the fireplace. iPhone or iPad.

How to get it: At the Apple book store, just type “Glyptophilia” and fetch the full version within seconds.

If you prefer a link: Just tap on the name of the country where you’ve registered your Apple device: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela.

Please give it a try. And if you like it: Rate it five stars! Thank you!

Glyptophilia – an installation in public space

“Glyptophilia” is the title of my latest installation in public space, amidst square kilometers of grands crus vineyards, at 48.48881 N / 15.66187 E. It’s a monument to knowledge and its preservation over millennia, but it’s also a place for contemplation in case you’re in the mood for reflection.

Despite its camo outfit – from far, the piece resembles a hut – the exposition of a series of baked clay tablets carrying elements of language – which become visible through horizontal slits as soon as you get close – gives a hint what might be going on here.

A thousand clay tablets, bound into weighty books, destined for eternity. Wait for new moon to see the librarian!

Note: There is a series of live events and zoom events planned to take place at the Glyptophilia site over the coming months and years. For current schedules and detailed programmes please come back to this page frequently.

The Châteauneuf intervention: A very special in situ piece

I’m totally passionate about developing a piece of art for a unique space. Sometimes this happens in early stages of a project, in intense dialogue with the architects. Sometimes the édifice is already among us for a while, has surrounded itself with an aura.

Thus it’s clear that I’m very happy when I’m invited to produce an intervention at an eighthundred year old structure like the Châteauneuf église. This romanesque church in the Brionnais – it’s huge, it’s pure, it’s magnifique!

There aren’t that many events scheduled at this sacred facility these days, what makes this place the ideal hideaway for contemplation. That’s why I decided to create a very subtle installation here – a piece which can support you when you are in need for this support, a piece which doesn’t disturb you when you didn’t ask for disruption.

Here and there appears a word, here and there a cryptic pictorial message, on a wall, on the floor, or interwoven with the holy decoration. Don’t worry. Begin a new life.

“A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl”

Once upon a time and a very good time it was …

Before knowing to be an artist … she didn’t know yet that she would be an artist … before the moment she knew that she would be an artist …

In a James Joyceian manner, Lena Lapschina portrays an artist … namely an artist in her juvenescence, before she would even know that one day she would become an artist, and certainly before she would wake up in a country where artists believe it’s normal to live a precarious life in poverty.

Lena Lapschina is painting this full-of-happiness, brimming-with-confidence girl at Kulturhof Villach in bright colours, using (one of) her favourite material for murals: some rolls of heavy-duty duct tape.

Schauraum, Kulturhof Villach. Carinthia.

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Tempera on paper: “Ausländer/Inländer” – on view at State Gallery of Lower Austria

In “Ausländer/Inländer”, a diptych I painted two decades ago, we meet a young woman who is wearing really cool designer frames. She has clipped an ID card to her chest, which once identifies her as a national, once as a foreigner. It remains hidden at first glance whether this inscription is jewelry or stigma, freely chosen or prescribed by the authorities, true or false. Through this conscious abandonment of the intention, viewers are called upon to train their perceptual capacities – and to deal with labels and classifications, as well as especially the natural or unconsidered consequences of such a branding. That said, “Ausländer/Inländer” could be read as a work on identities and attributions.

The paintings are currently on view at State Gallery of Lower Austria, in the exhibition “Spuren und Masken der Flucht”, curated by Günther Oberhollenzer and Georg Traska.

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