Eröffnung am Sonntag, dem 27. September um 11 Uhr, Weyreggerstrasse 11a, Schörfling.
Kuratoren: Harald Krejci, Gundula Gruber
Under the title Signs, Games, and Messages—a homage to the fragmentary, profound compositions of the Hungarian composer György Kurtág—the exhibition brings together international artistic positions that enter into a dialogue with one another across two contrasting yet closely interwoven rooms. Kurtág conceived his project as an ever-expanding repertoire of short, playful notations. It was an attempt to experiment with new forms of musical narrative from different musical spheres, cultures, and eras. Transformed into the visual arts, the exhibition is an attempt to use the artworks to bring the mystical foundation of our pre-modern cultures into relation, and to generate an aphoristic language through the pieces that becomes palpable to the viewer.
In the main room, completely in the spirit of Kurtág’s „Messages“, the exhibition focuses on the theme of landscape. Here, works meet that critically engage with stereotypical images of nature and ecological issues. Alvaro Barrington’s material- focused painting depicts a sunset. Precisely through its abstracted formal language, it also references the Western-influenced modernism of the 19th century and the colonial gaze on a supposedly „untouched“ nature.
This field of tension is complemented by the dream of landscapes of the Swiss-Estonian artist Evy Jokhova, whose engagement with anthropology and the resulting formal language poetically alludes to the dream worlds of Marc Chagall, as well as by the forest paintings of Arnold Berger, which, as prototypical landscapes, reflect the history of painting and our own alienation from nature.
The side room is dedicated to „Signs“ and „Games“. Here, the works of Masha Silchenko, Michael Gumhold and Sasha Auerbach are linked by a shared search for the archaism of animal, plant, and earth symbols. Playfully and with a critically ironic lightness, animal and plant mysticism are made visible within one room through a presentation format acting as a natural history index. The artists refer to the subconscious codes of our coexistence and the mythological connection between humans, animals, and the environment in a highly technological society.
Together, both rooms form a multi-voiced, visual composition that addresses urgent questions of our time—from the climate crisis to the revival of historical and modern myths—with playful and formal lightness. Harald Krejci
Fotocredits: Sasha Auerbakh, Arnold Berger, Michael Gumhold, Evy Jakhova, Masha Silchenko