Verena Dengler
23 Feb - 23 Jun 2013
© Verena Dengler
Digitale Reaktanz in No Ma'am's-land, 2012
Photo: Verena Dengler, Courtesy Galerie Meyer Kainer
Digitale Reaktanz in No Ma'am's-land, 2012
Photo: Verena Dengler, Courtesy Galerie Meyer Kainer
VERENA DENGLER
Fantastic Socialism
23 February - 23 June 2013
Verena Dengler is master of the pointed allusion. She melds pictures, sculptures, fabrics and found materials into a poetic cosmos: historical and political details link up with reflections on the economic conditions of the artist’s existence, art historical genealogy with quotations from popular culture. In her first institutional solo show Verena Dengler, a native of Vienna, reflects on the specifically Austrian conditions and support systems in the visual arts which have usually been influenced by social democratic principles. In the process, old-fashioned slogans and out-of-date means of production collide with current headlines whereby what is regarded as contemporary in each case ceases to be self-evident.
The exhibition title, Fantastic Socialism makes reference to the Phantastic Realists, a group of artists who achieved a great deal of popularity, especially in Austria. Dengler’s interest is focussed on the specific forms that idiosyncratic provinciality can give rise to. In this respect, the exhibition’s subtitle might also be Östalgie [Ost (East) and ostalgie from nostalgia and Ö from Österreich/Austria]: “I’m thinking here of Ostalgie, the GDR cult, only that it is even more absurd in Austria, because it also means that a present-day image of Vienna is always being constructed.”
Curator
Achim Hochdörfer
Fantastic Socialism
23 February - 23 June 2013
Verena Dengler is master of the pointed allusion. She melds pictures, sculptures, fabrics and found materials into a poetic cosmos: historical and political details link up with reflections on the economic conditions of the artist’s existence, art historical genealogy with quotations from popular culture. In her first institutional solo show Verena Dengler, a native of Vienna, reflects on the specifically Austrian conditions and support systems in the visual arts which have usually been influenced by social democratic principles. In the process, old-fashioned slogans and out-of-date means of production collide with current headlines whereby what is regarded as contemporary in each case ceases to be self-evident.
The exhibition title, Fantastic Socialism makes reference to the Phantastic Realists, a group of artists who achieved a great deal of popularity, especially in Austria. Dengler’s interest is focussed on the specific forms that idiosyncratic provinciality can give rise to. In this respect, the exhibition’s subtitle might also be Östalgie [Ost (East) and ostalgie from nostalgia and Ö from Österreich/Austria]: “I’m thinking here of Ostalgie, the GDR cult, only that it is even more absurd in Austria, because it also means that a present-day image of Vienna is always being constructed.”
Curator
Achim Hochdörfer