Exhibition Opening #4: Design im Fenster
February 4th, 2016

How do we deal with an aesthetic concept of Before and After? Is it appealing to see a sequence of possible imagery— outcome after action—as opposed to an isolated visual object? This is obviously more of a cinematic problem and less one of seriality. By addressing systems of circulation, it is dealt with all the same. Like Alice’s fall, it is the boomerang’s curved line that asks for attention. It isn’t the touchdown in Wonderland or catching the hunting tool itself that is really attractive. How do we laugh at the world instead of joking about it? One way is to aim for the payoff instead of the punchline. This applies to the social and economic sphere too: Since NYE, local gun shops report an increase in weapons sales. Not far from the exhibition space, a sign reads: Design in Windows. Many facades and the interior of some buildings are decorated with wavy lines in this town. Today it is the straight and the rippled line that may broadcast a sense of radicality. In our exhibition space, Rebekka Seubert mentions the relationship between decor and territorial claims. From wall to wall, she draws multiple silver-colored garlands like hatchings on paper. There are Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover and there is Judy Fiskin’s video "50 Ways To Set Your Table", in which we watch a competition in tablescaping. “It’s almost inhumane,” Rebekka remarks. “If anyone would start eating at one of these tables, it would be over soon.” Her series of photographs document the hanging of the same bag of blue-colored garlands on the same nail. The inhuman aspect of decor is picked up by Sarah Rechberger in her grid of overlapping details of living fungus. The toxicity of a magic mushroom in Brion Gysin’s drawing purports a mechanical quality. It’s a bit like measuring time in coffee sips (Jumpei Shimada). Maybe Magda Tothova’s hungry ghosts count their minutes in hefty gulps. The abrasion of shoe soles (Philip Pichler) and a furry toy (Gretchen Faust) talk about the expiration of time and covering distance. Jackie Lee’s blank key doesn’t open shit. In contrast, the accompanying keychain is as revelatory as it may be melancholic. It lists every passed love. One poster (Maria Cozma & Johanna Odersky) can be read as signage or as one point on a demarcation line—like a piece of wall or like a door, or like hands and dicks drawn with water-soluble markers (Adrian Manuel Huber) on plastic. Two figures, armed and camouflaged, (Richard Hoeck & John Miller) are as welcoming as they are detaining in their function. In addition to the aforementioned works, this iteration of our exhibition presents a painting by Vittorio Brodmann, a letter by Jeana, a fountain by Philipp Köster, a stamp by Philipp Friedrich and postcards and a towel by Jetskeee Customs. More works on view by Ariane Koch & Sarina Scheidegger, Calla Henkel & Max Pitegoff, Jakob Neulinger, Anne Speier, Joon Yeon Park, Kathrin Wojtowicz, Laura Lee Burroughs, Lisa Kuglitsch, Marina Faust, Min Yoon, Sonia Leimer.

Images by Marina Faust.

The curator and wellwellwell thank all the participating artists, Hans Mayerhofer, Margarete Hiesberger, Marina Faust, Melanie Ohnemus, Rita Vitorelli, Martha Kirszenbaum, Ariane Müller, Marie Angeletti, Lili Reynaud-Dewar, Lucie Stahl, Vittorio Brodmann, Dominic Zwissler, Fabrice Stroun, Marianne Farahmand, and everyone else who helped.

This project was made possible with the support of Universität für Angewandte Kunst Wien, hufak (student union of the University of Applied Arts), Jetskeee Customs ( http://jetskeee.com ), Klasse Skulptur Raum, Seba, and Schlauchtechnik Mayerhofer. It ends on March 5th, 2016.