Tag Archives: painting

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.

(Please tap or click on any picture for a full-screen experience.)

Those Were The Days: an AR-enhanced media installation

You see a display cabinet containing stranded goods, sand and eelgrass, the remains of a photograph, and a triptych painting on antique panels. Somebody has told you that the panels might be coated with short films, visible only through the lens of a smartphone. You hold your smartphone over the scenery, and things begin to move, and you can hear voices. Soon you’ll be lost in thought.

“Those Were The Days” is a brand new, augmented reality enhanced media installation. Exhibition views from Mdina Biennale 2020 on Malta.

Biennale – yet again

It is a mosaic, it is a waymark, it is a tape painting, it is digital equipment – my piece for the Mdina Biennale, on the historic ground of Malta. When it catches sight of a smartphone, it comes to life, immerses visitors in an extramundane environment… To give it a try, go to see it on site: The mural is prominently located at the grand staircase of the Cathedral Museum, Mdina, Malta.

Some seldom shown pieces reunited for open studio show

During Vienna Art Week, I had a mini-show in a twelve-room apartment aka the Viennese studio. Old friends, like my neon sign “Girls wanted”, the pizza-boxed video series “17 Sekunden Kunst”, the Wittmann-manufactured cushions “Art-Free Territory” and the Mercedes-Benz tribute photo series “Communication”, joined forces with brand new stuff, like the installation “Curators’ Water”, the light-boxed photo series “Some things that long time do not exist” (Duratrans, light-box, crank), the xerography-inspired, Teheran-produced work “Role Models” (edition: 1), the photographed alphabet “Trees and poets, citified” (Dibond) and the post-future of painting series “Stuff”. Visitors also got a chance to preview the video series “Message to the World” while hanging out at the bar, and to engage in the participatory media installation “Get Fit With Dr. Lapschina”.
N.B.: “Thank you” to everyone who made this exhib possible, and especially to Mario Codognato for more than an hour of questions and answers.