Bianca Baldi, Elisabeth von Samsonow, Aimée Zito Lema & Becket MWN and more
This year we are thinking—through the pigmentation of cephalopods, ink stains on silk, trees that write poetry, the acquisition of land, the conjuring act of filmmaking, the power of words to make a person, radio airspace and multiple relocations, both speculative and real—about storytelling.
With new commissions, exhibitions, a symposium, a publication, and a lively public program, here is what the artistic program for 2021 looks like at Grazer Kunstverein.
Spring
Bianca Baldi: Cameo
April 16–June 13, 2021
Exhibiting her video work Play-White amidst a newly commissioned series of textile works, Baldi stages ideas around the complicated act of passing. Combining personal stories and literary characters, in a study of radical transgressions, camouflage, unspoken sadness and survival, Baldi draws on historical and zoomorphic research to present a compelling meditation on perception, embodiment, self-presentation, and the aesthetic thresholds of identity. Cameo is co-produced by Grazer Kunstverein and Netwerk Aalst, with additional support from the Hessische Kulturstiftung and Flanders State of the Art. The attendant symposium on June 4, 2021 is accompanied by Bianca Baldi’s publication Play-White, co-produced in association with Pieternel Vermoortel (Netwerk Aalst) and Kate Strain (Grazer Kunstverein), and published by K. Verlag in Berlin (pre-order).
Summer
Elisabeth von Samsonow: The Elder Poem
June 25–September 12, 2021
What if the alphabet was invented by the trees? In her project The Elder Poem von Samsonow explores and stages convergencies between art and ecology, namely poetry and botanical systems. Von Samsonow maps the Land of the Goddesses, an area of 3,870 hectares which she acquired and co-founded with a group of artists and supporters (among them the Grazer Kunstverein) in 2020 in Lower Austria. Using a system of association von Samsonow reads the landscape of this biodiverse habitat, and in doing so creates a journey into the core of the imagination, a poem written by the land itself. As part of this exhibition a recent collaborative film by von Samsonow and others will be screened. Titled A Visit, A Ceremony, A Gift this film was commissioned by TULCA Festival of Visual Arts as part of the Unselfing Programme for Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture with support from the French Embassy in Ireland.
Autumn
Aimée Zito Lema and Becket MWN: The Actress
September 24–December 19, 2021
The Actress is a multi-screen film project in which questions of language, enunciation and subjectivities are addressed. Through this collaborative work, artists Becket MWN and Aimée Zito Lema explore the relations between speech, memory and movement by working with actors through a process of documented rehearsals, based around a short script inspired by the autofiction writings of Clarice Lispector. The project is co-produced by If I Can't Dance, I Don't Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution, Amsterdam; Mercer Union, a centre for contemporary art in Toronto; steirischer herbst '21, Graz and Grazer Kunstverein.
Ongoing
Edward Clydesdale Thomson and others
“Grazer Kunstverein is Moving!”
Ongoing throughout 2021
The idea of moving presents us with an opportunity to rethink the role and function of a Kunstverein. Throughout 2021 critical questions are addressed by artists Lukas Meßner, Dennis McNulty, Damir Očko, Markus Jeschaunig and Breathe Earth Collective, and broadcaster Favour Moriba, with temporary projects presented across the 17 districts of the city of Graz, anchored by a central Depot by Clydesdale Thomson at the Kunstverein. “Grazer Kunstverein is moving!” is supported by Graz Kulturjahr 2020 with additional support from the Mondriaan Fund.
This year’s program marks the last by our current director Kate Strain, who leaves us to establish Ireland’s first Kunstverein. Located in County Wicklow, Kunstverein Aughrim is an artistic production agency opening in 2022.
Grazer Kunstverein is structurally supported by the city of Graz, the province of Styria, the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Public Service and Sport, legero united - the shoemakers | con-tempus.eu, and its members.
