<nettime-ann> Unterspiel opens January 17 @ the Blackwood Gallery

["Milena Placentile" <m.placentile@utoronto.ca>]

.
Emerging Viennese artists rewrite their cultural history in Canada, again.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Unterspiel
An exhibition (and related performances) by contemporary Viennese artists:

Patrick Baumüller & Severin Hofmann, Catrin Bolt, Marlene Haring, monochrom,
and Hans Schabus

Opening Reception: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 from 6 ? 9 p.m. -- 
Artists in attendance

A free shuttle bus departs the Gladstone Hotel --- 
1214 Queen St. W., Toronto at 6 pm (returning 9 pm)

Exhibition runs January 18 to February 25, 2007 
monochrom Performance: Wednesday February 7, 2007


This is the second, much anticipated installment of Unterspiel after its
inaugural exhibition at Vancouver?s Contemporary Art Gallery in 2005. 

Featuring the work of five contemporary Viennese artists/artist groups,
Unterspiel explores the problematics of contemporary art production in
Vienna. The works in this exhibition demonstrate a specific, sometimes
belated relation to a tradition of avant-gardism that has its origins in fin
de siecle Vienna. At the same time, they sometimes paradoxically take issue
with the provocative actions of the Viennese Actionists (1960s). In the wake
of the Actionists? inherently political and violent work, contemporary
Viennese art often engages in socio-political issues concerning notions of
Austrian identity, or in confrontation to political and/or art institutions.
A catalogue with a text by Seamus Kealy accompanies the exhibition.

Hans Schabus, who represented Austria at the 2005 Venice Biennale, presents
the video installation Western, a complex work that questions post-war
Viennese identity. In this work, Schabus boats through the famous catacomb
sewers beneath Vienna, where Orson Welles had evaded authorities in the 1949
film, The Third Man.

Severin Hofmann & Patrick Baumüller transplant a clichéd image of Austrian
culture with their ongoing Würstlstand project, shown in the gallery on
video. These artists set up mobile traditional Viennese hotdog stands as a
site of intersecting cultural identities.

Catrin Bolt & Marlene Haring present individual installations that follow on
their collaborative work. These young artists have made provocative video
and performance work, such as the 2003 video, Call Boys, involving male
prostitutes, and recent performances in politically-charged contexts such as
government buildings.
 
monochrom invites volunteers drawn from the audience to be buried alive.
With a small, private graveyard set up in the gallery, willing individuals
may come to experience their own mortality. Events scheduled for Wednesday,
February 7. A monochrom installation is also part of the exhibition.

IMAGE BAR programming alongside the exhibition includes: The Third Man,
contemporary Austrian film, and films selected by the participating artists.

Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 11 to 5 pm and Sunday 1 to 5 pm. 
For more information, please contact Milena Placentile at the Blackwood
Gallery, 905.828.3789 / m.placentile@utoronto.ca, or visit the website:
www.blackwoodgallery.ca.

The Blackwood Gallery gratefully acknowledges the support of The Canada
Council for the Arts, the Austrian Cultural Forum in Ottawa, Gladstone
Hotel, and Simple Alternative Funeral Centres.


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