Open call for artists and 2022 program

The knowing grows from and is the knower’s skills of
maintaining relatedness with the known.
—Nurit Bird-David

After all, what is a thing, or indeed a person, if not a tying together
of the lines–the paths of growth and movement–of all the
many constituents gathered there?
—Tim Ingold

We need to cultivate a bit of anthropomorphism–the idea that human
agency has some echoes in nonhuman nature–to counter the
narcissism of humans in charge of the world.
—Jane Bennett

A Sense of Relatedness
The more microscopically we examine material–and immaterial–objects, the more difficult it becomes to separate them from their surroundings. I am not available without my intestinal flora, without the microbes on my skin, without the electrical impulses in my brain, or the histories of my family, my milieu… Where do I begin and where do I end? In its 2022 annual program “A Sense of Relatedness,” Kunstraum Lakeside investigates an array of different types of relationships: The focus is connecting lines, entanglements, alliances, networks, or kinships and their underlying mechanisms; it explores encounters between the human and nonhuman, between the material and immaterial, between the organic and technical, and, last but not least, between places and times. Global networking and mobility within social, political, and economic structures, above all, give rise to variable life models and practices, which renew and extend themselves, in turn, to cultivate new conventions.

Solo exhibitions
Throughout 2022, Kunstraum Lakeside features four solo exhibitions by Birgit Knoechl, Simona Koch, Riccardo Giacconi, and Jojo Gronostay. Impelled by intrinsic artistic discourses on the drawn line and its relationship to space, Birgit Knoechl’s artworks address topics with social relevance: hybridization and migration, mimesis and appropriation, growth, acceleration, and control. Without a line, no reflection on future trajectories; without a line, no reflection on histories anchored in the past. Or perhaps? Natural sciences, like physics, genetics, or biology, as the study of living material, count among the multitude of departure points for Simona Koch. In experimental research setups, which range from expansive installations to artist books, she traces the living in all of its facets, while continuously generating new working methods and procedures.

In his artistic practice anchored in long-term research, Riccardo Giacconi reveals relationships between different temporal and/or spatial momentums. He works with fiction, abstraction, and storytelling. He studies sociopolitical relations prevailing today through the lens of past events and synthesizes recurring patterns in the history of Europe into new poetic moments. The brand Dead White Men’s Clothes (DWMC) founded by Jojo Gronostay is both an art project and a fashion label, operating at the interface of fashion, fine art, museum, and second-hand clothing store. The sociopolitical questions that the artist poses–concerning neocolonialism, identity, and global economic frameworks–are addressed with a concise formal language that spans photography, sculptures, and performances.

Open call for “Statements”
In addition to solo presentations, Kunstraum Lakeside invites artists, cultural practitioners, and researchers to participate in the 2022 program by submitting their own “Statement.” These performative formats are one-day events whose presented content relates to the annual topic. It is a platform for experiments with modes of representation in the visual arts in the context of an institution at the interface between art, economy, and technology. A total of four “Statements” will be presented in 2022. Applications must be sent per email by January 31, 2022 (midnight). All material for the open call as well as the application requirements can be downloaded on the Kunstraum Lakeside website here.

Curators
Franz Thalmair and Gudrun Ratzinger