Curator: Simon Mraz

Artists: Veronika Allmayer-Beck (Milan), Daniel Bachler and Teresa Marenzi (Berlin), EVA & ADELE (Berlin), Sasha Galkina (Moscow), GELITIN (Austria), G.R.A.M. (Graz), Alina Gutkina (Moscow), Valeria Nibiru (Saint Petersburg), Anna Shiller and Fyodor Ivanov (Saint Petersburg), Nikita Shokhov, Darya Marchik, Hanna Putz (Vienna/London), Fiona Rukschcio (Vienna), David Ter-Oganyan (Moscow), Raphaël Thierry (Paris), Sveta Shuvaeva (Moscow), Igor Chursin (Kyiv), Artistic collective from the University of Art and Design in Linz (Oliver Naimer, Andreas Tanzer, Jonas Fliedl, and Daniel Rappitsch with professors Georg Ritter and Ursula Huebner) 

​

​

Today we are no longer moved by great ideologies and religions (at least not the majority of us); the appeal of our self-image measured purely against the yardstick of consumerism is fading away; and idols are tumbling faster than they emerge as “stars”. In a world defined by our mobility, not only has a home we physically call our own become a rarity, but we as individuals are no longer anchored in a general sense. Disorientation and inventiveness are concurrent and concomitant states. We are free not just to think and to make what we want of life, but also to invent ourselves – invent ourselves so we are not at risk of becoming lost in the anonymous crowd, and perhaps give ourselves a basis where we have no foundation of our own; to invent ourselves perhaps because it provides support – or perhaps simply because it’s fun. The points of reference are what’s exciting – everything today is relative, so from that point of view the choice available is vast. Not only are we now able to choose our professions, we can also choose our personal format.

​

So, is self-invention and the representation of ourselves the expression of an essential impulse, or a calculated attempt at creating our own brand? Is it self-realisation or self-abnegation? What is the difference between a person’s urge and drive to break out of themselves on the one hand and, on the other, to lean against a role model or become absorbed within a particular social group? What are we trying to see in others, and what do we reveal of ourselves?

​

These are big questions being asked of very different artistic personalities, and the questions are not just big but above all personal.

For everyone, self-image and self-representation is an inescapable balancing act.

​

The venue is an apartment, for nowhere are we closer to the interface between representation and intimacy than the place we call our home.