QUEER ENCOUNTERS - VIENNA TRANS L.A.

A group exhibition of artists from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
curated by Zoe Dewitt


California Institute of the Arts
School of Art, D300/D301 galleries
25th - 29th
September 2017

Installation views  >>

Exhibition catalogue  >>

 

As part of an exchange project between the CalArts School of Art and students of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, this exhibition presents around twenty-five international artists mainly working in a queer-feminist, anti-discriminatory and decolonial context. Most of them have been studying at the contextual painting class of Ashley Hans Scheirl (experimental filmmaker and painter, artist of documenta14 in Kassel and Athens) which is known for its focus on identity/gender topics and the trans-aspect in art (as in the transposition between artistic media, the transition between sexual categories, the transgression of borders limiting the exploration of new libidinous economies etc.).

The positions united in this exhibition reflect this transitive aspect in various ways: the encounter of different cultural backgrounds with contemporary western subcultures and socio-political discourses, the shifting of set pieces of myth, folklore, high and low culture, trash and glamour, the exploration of alternate identities as a means of self-empowerment, the use of the body as a translator of various languages and codes as well as the prima materia of artistic expression from which further alchemical transmutations of desire emanate. Intergalactic matriarchy, queer utopia, decolonisation of the body, LGBT-activism, postporn and non-binary club cultureare just a few keywords which describe the artistic field presented in this exhibition. As such QUEER ENCOUNTERS - VIENNA TRANS L. A. covers a variety of artistic fields such as painting, photography, video and installation with a special emphasis on interdisciplinary methods and collaborations between artists.

A part of the exhibition will be dedicated to the Austrian custome jewelry designer Countess Cis Zoltowska, who relocated from Vienna to Los Angeles in the 1960s and lived in West Hollwood until her death in 2004.

Participating artists: Florian Aschka, Pedra Costa, Zoe Dewitt, Andi Dvorák, Mirabella Dziruni, Veronika Eberhart, Julia Fuchs, Julia S. Goodman, Moritz Gottschalk, Larissa Kopp, Roberta Lima, Rini Mitra, Alfred Morina, Hyeji Nam, Danielle Pamp, Michal Rutz, Berivan Sayici, Sir Meisi & Kozek Hörlonski, Marianne Vlaschits, Julia Zastava and Countess Cis Zoltowska.