Focus on Vienna: May 2016

Covering a wide range of subjects - collaborative performance, the relationship of art and technology, ornamental structures, different body concepts - they also feature three strong female artists very much worth checking out closely.

Fyodor’s Performance Carousel. A performative installation / Viennese version at Künstlerhaus Wien

Multi-disciplinary artist Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevich’s first Vienna exhibition brings an imaginative and unusual performance work to the city. Invited by the annual theatre and arts festival Wiener Festwochen to produce a Viennese version of his Performance Carousel, Pavlov-Andreevich has nine performance artists occupy a stage-sized carousel, arranged like pieces of a cake. Over the course of nine days, the artists perform seven solos and one duet on the theme of pregnancy, each without knowing what the others will show. Adding to the complexity of the piece, members of the audience ride fitness bikes while the carousel turns, the intensity of their pedalling being used to influence the speed and interplay of the participating artists. A new kind of creative collaboration and social experiment.

The Promise of Total Automation at Kunsthalle Wien (MQ)

Gathering acclaimed international artists from different disciplines, this exhibition analyses interesting dualities of art, life and technology. Peter Halley's unashamedly flashy large-scale paintings turn out to be interpretations of networks and machines; Benoît Maire's elegant and uncanny arrangement “Sexe” is a precisely curated series of objects and devices; Daria Martin explores the subject through the body with her 16mm film “Soft Materials”, an affectionate dance between humans and robots. This multi-disciplinary show caters for anyone interested in the dynamics between technology and human experience. Last chance to see!

Gudrun Kampl. Ornament oder Verbrechen (Ornament or Crime) at Galerie Steinek

Austrian artist Gudrun Kampl is renowned for her extensive site-specific installations and textile sculptures. For her show at Galerie Steinek, Kampl has fabricated intricate red and black wall ornaments processing Austrian architect Adolf Loos’ 1908 pamphlet “Ornament und Verbrechen” (Ornament and Crime). Kampl responds critically to Loos’s fear of ornament, commenting on his pædophilia as well as the thinking and lifestyle of the Wiener Moderne. Monochrome relief paintings, mythical symbols and tattoo-like illustrations combine to make the compositions unique.

Anna Stangl. The Capricious Line at Galerie Gerersdorfer

In this new solo exhibition, Austrian artist Anna Stangl explores dream-like landscapes and undefined urban spaces. Her figurative drawings are inhabited mostly by a female self-reflective figure in transparent clothing. The title “The Capricious Line” can refer to a volatile state of body and mind: being lost in an in-between-universe, changing from precarious to safe places, or from cold to warm. The works explore feelings and memories without platitudes. The drawings gain depth through mixed techniques and layered illustrations.

Berlinde De Bruyckere. Suture at Leopold Museum

Since her contribution for the Belgian Pavillon at La Biennale di Venezia in 2013, sculptor Berlinde De Bruyckere is internationally known for her unique dark and twisted corporeal formations. ‘Suture’ at Leopold Museum is the artist’s first exhibition in Austria, presenting her most important works from the past two decades. With her seemingly timeless figures De Bruyckere addresses existential questions of life and death, pain and suffering, and emphasizes how firmly human existence is anchored in the flesh.

Franziska is an art theorist and writer working in projects related to Visual Culture. She's ArtRabbit's new Vienna correspondent. For more updates on contemporary art events follow ArtRabbit on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.