CMRK openings in Graz, Austria
CMRK is a network of four independent
institutions for contemporary art based in
Graz: Camera Austria, Künstlerhaus KM–,
Halle für Kunst & Medien, and
Grazer Kunstverein.
once documentary
Camera Austria
June 6–September 7, 2014
www.camera-austria.at
Chat Jet (Part 2)
Sculpture in Reflection
Künstlerhaus KM–
Halle für Kunst & Medien
June 6–August 14, 2014
www.km-k.at
The Artists Are Present
June 6–July 26 & August 25–September 13, 2014
www.rotor.mur.at
Hreinn Fridfinnsson & Bruce McLean
Grazer Kunstverein
June 6–August 3, 2014
www.grazerkunstverein.org
The continual questioning of the documentary—photographic—image relates to a crisis of plausibility and of valid—political, social, economic—agreements. If it at best seems difficult to foster reliability when it comes to present-day events, then something of an “archaeology” of the present attains intensified meaning. What is being remembered? What can be discerned about history based on the pictures? Which texts are written about these pictures? The artists in the exhibition “once documentary” take different approaches to addressing these questions related to the construction of history, and thus also to the construction of collective knowledge. once documentary will be on show at Camera Austria.
With Sven Augustijnen, Eric Baudelaire, Peggy Buth, and Maryam Jafri
Last year’s opening exhibition at Künstlerhaus KM– Halle für Kunst & Medien, titled Chat Jet (Part 1) – Painting the Medium, gathered works of that take topical approaches to a painting which, with reference to the debate on David Joselit’s article “Painting Beside Itself,” one might also describe as painting beside itself or outside of its original context. After the first exhibition attempted to show the media, structures, and surfaces that painting occasionally uses, the second exhibition in this two-part series, Chat Jet (Part 2) – Sculpture in Reflection now dedicates itself to current sculptural concepts while exploring related content. Here, too, the focus is on context, rather than on the craft. Based on the readymade as artistic exploration of everyday (consumer) objects or on the use of industrial processes and materials, today painting, film, video, and the most varied digital source material are conceptualized and used—in the sense of an extension of autonomous sculpture—as equally important components of sculpture. Emerging to the same extent is a reflexive practice with regard to the exhibition space, along with the philosophical and mediatic discourse that extends beyond this space.
With Catharine Ahearn, Mathis Altmann, Nairy Baghramian, Alice Channer, Cut and Scrape, Michaela Eichwald, Matias Faldbakken, Gelitin, Isa Genzken, Michael Gumhold, Rachel Harrison, Lena Henke, Yngve Holen, Judith Hopf, Nathan Hylden, Michael Kienzer, Kitty Kraus, Anita Leisz, Angelika Loderer, Mandla Reuter, Daniel Richter, Nora Schultz, Michael Schuster, Tove Storch, Andrea Winkler, and B. Wurtz
The exhibition at presents 13 artists from Graz and Styria, whose works have been presented too rarely in this country to date, or who are at the beginning of their exhibition activities. The contributions take different approaches to interpreting relationships between the outer world and introspection, which are sketched out on paper, painted on image-bearing media, outlined on walls, captured with a camera, translated into objects, or spatialized and performed by the artists.
With Nayari Castillo, e.d gfrerer, grübelproductions (Veza Maria Fernandez Ramos & Christina Lederhaas), Beate Hausegger, Severin Hirsch, Robin Klengel, Marianne Lang, Alfred Lenz, Erwin Polanc, Mario Jose Santo Soares, Gregor Schlatte, Marlene Stoisser, and Herwig Tollschein
The Grazer Kunstverein’s ongoing investigation into notions of social abstraction has been slowly shifting toward the often-direct relationships between artists and their surroundings. Both emotional and intellectual, these relationships frequently result in abstract translations that still keep “the social” as their core point of interest. Hreinn Fridfinnsson (b. 1943, Iceland) and Bruce McLean (b. 1944, Great Britain) are pioneer artists from the same generation who, to this day, have never met. Juxtaposed alongside one another, these artists explore each in their own way, their physical presence and relationship with artistic production and representation.
