K N U S P E R K N Ä U S C H E N
planned, but canceled exhibition project on a construction site in the center of Vienna, 2021
installation of metal rods and acrylic on canvas
In context of the construction site venue I decided to use jack posts to hang my works. The container was a given variable of the organizer. Overall a very interesting venue - in times of mobile test stations, temporary vaccine centers, omnipresent renovation works to upgrade real estate investments and the crisis of global supply chains - all these things are based on such shipping containers. The exhibition was supposed to take place in the first district of Vienna, the touristic center. Since the pandemic this area is much less frequented, almost empty. All the sights, touristic bars and souvenir shops were deserted. The souvenirs seemed unappreciated, overproduced extras in the city scene and since I too couldn´t travel, I started to explore my surrounding as a cliché tourist. I went to all the sights, had a look through the gift shops and wondered where all of these things are produced (its outsourced to Non-Austria/Not-Europe) and how a nation actually decides to market itself.
the one and only, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 80 x 140 x 4,5 cm
1. Sometimes you have seen a painting so often, on cups, shirts, posters, caps, magnets, in window reflections and as stickers, that you just get triggered when you see the color combination or vague shape of a Sissi. The brain just completes all the information, fills in the gaps and you end up totally conditioned, presuming you know exactly what you see.
2. Some souvenirs also come as tales illustration. Whereas its not yet clear, in which story there is a creepy guy coming through the chimney, while a small girl is sitting next to a powder sugared Gugelhupf.
3. Kaisersemmel are sights too.
Knusperknäuschen, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 80 x 60 x 8 cm
beige windmill, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 20 x 2,5 cm
Knight, Globe, Knight, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 80 x 140 x 4,5 cm
Knight, Globe, Knight, seems to refer to ancient mysticisms, calling to the wisdoms of the past, asking to receive ancestral knowledge, but its actually a snapshot from Mostly Mozart, Kärntnerstr. 11-15
