Isabella Hollauf
28 Jun - 03 Aug 2008
Since the late 1970s and early 1980s, utopian social models haven’t been much desirable. They may have vanished, but along with them, so have many social project schemes that once had the ambition of providing broad access to culture and leisure. Large green spaces and swimming pools were the expression of a wish for participation in public life and prosperity for all. Today, only a few such places and facilities remain intact: most have fallen into dilapidation.
Isabella Hollauf assesses the disappearance of erstwhile social utopias in her work. She is interested here not merely in post-Communist countries, but also others which were for decades strongly influenced by socialism, such as Austria and Sweden. Her photographic research pursues the evident shifts in value perceptions, shows the ambitions of the former utopias and the dismal reality of the present.
In her Leipzig exhibition, Hollauf focuses on “Erholungsräume” or “Recreational Spaces”. In this context she exhibits 56 photos, including “Donaupark” (“Danube Park”) (2001/02), “Löschteiche und Swimmingpools” (“Fire water ponds and Swimming Pools”) (2004) and “Oasen in Leipzig” (“Leipzig Oases”) (2006). The “Oasen in Leipzig” group came about in 2006 in connection with a stay of several weeks in Leipzig. The title “Oasen” refers to an oasis as a “place of rest and relaxation”. But the photos quickly make clear that the Leipzig oases too have changed dramatically. Once a place of recreation for the masses, they now find themselves increasingly orphaned. Either they have been closed down because they are not profitable or they have been reassigned to new uses. Of the 19 Leipzig outdoor recreation facilities shown, only a few are still in use. The exhibition also shows “Aquarena” (2007). This 35 mm film was made in cooperation with Josef Dabernig.
The Leipzig exhibition will be seen subsequently at the ICA in Dunajvaros, Hungary.
Isabella Hollauf was born in 1956 at St. Georgen, Austria. She has presented her work at venues including the Museum für angewandte Kunst, MAK, Vienna (2003) and the Vienna Museum (2004). With “Aquarena” in 2007, she participated in the Diagonale 2007 - Festival of Austrian Film at Graz, Crossing Europe, the Linz Film Festival, “New Austrian Avant-Garde and Experimental Cinema” at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and the 14th Regensburg Short Film Week.
Isabella Hollauf assesses the disappearance of erstwhile social utopias in her work. She is interested here not merely in post-Communist countries, but also others which were for decades strongly influenced by socialism, such as Austria and Sweden. Her photographic research pursues the evident shifts in value perceptions, shows the ambitions of the former utopias and the dismal reality of the present.
In her Leipzig exhibition, Hollauf focuses on “Erholungsräume” or “Recreational Spaces”. In this context she exhibits 56 photos, including “Donaupark” (“Danube Park”) (2001/02), “Löschteiche und Swimmingpools” (“Fire water ponds and Swimming Pools”) (2004) and “Oasen in Leipzig” (“Leipzig Oases”) (2006). The “Oasen in Leipzig” group came about in 2006 in connection with a stay of several weeks in Leipzig. The title “Oasen” refers to an oasis as a “place of rest and relaxation”. But the photos quickly make clear that the Leipzig oases too have changed dramatically. Once a place of recreation for the masses, they now find themselves increasingly orphaned. Either they have been closed down because they are not profitable or they have been reassigned to new uses. Of the 19 Leipzig outdoor recreation facilities shown, only a few are still in use. The exhibition also shows “Aquarena” (2007). This 35 mm film was made in cooperation with Josef Dabernig.
The Leipzig exhibition will be seen subsequently at the ICA in Dunajvaros, Hungary.
Isabella Hollauf was born in 1956 at St. Georgen, Austria. She has presented her work at venues including the Museum für angewandte Kunst, MAK, Vienna (2003) and the Vienna Museum (2004). With “Aquarena” in 2007, she participated in the Diagonale 2007 - Festival of Austrian Film at Graz, Crossing Europe, the Linz Film Festival, “New Austrian Avant-Garde and Experimental Cinema” at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and the 14th Regensburg Short Film Week.