OSTALGIA in show at VIENNA ART WEEK

Group exhibition: Predicting Memories

” (…) Predicting Memories” focuses on a cross-section of the concept of memory and the “anticipation of memory constructs” in contemporary art. Participating artists in the exhibition show an explosive, at times ironizing visual language in their break with current, realpolitikal events. Around the world, dictators, nationalist rhretoric, religious fundamentalism, the omnipotence of global players and the commercialization of mainstream media increase the risk of restrictions to the freedoms of speech and opinion – and the history productions they are associated with. Master plans imposed on urban structures cause naturally-evolved memory spaces to disappear, or prevent them from being established in the first place. Artists around the world are reacting to these processes and the impending loss of individual and collective epics by making them an integral part of their aesthetic work. This – as various works show – leads to a constant re-figuration of memory, not least in light of the observation that the historical experience of past trauma exceeds the scope of representation. The manipulative momentum of ideology-laden historical perceptions and their dubiousness is subject to analysis. The identity-political proof of authenticity put up for discussion urgently raises the (banal-sounding) questions: Where do we come from, and where are we going? (…)” (source: statement //Vienna Art Week)