Fellowship Program for Art and Theory 2016/17

In 2016/17, the Fellowship Program for Art and Theory will be focusing on projects concerned with physical deviance, educational spirits, apparently obsolete image production processes, and former geopolitics. The fellows Eva Egermann, Stefan Hayn, Kerstin Schroedinger and Vladislav Shapovalov were invited to work on their projects in Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen – following success in a two-part application procedure, in which more than 270 artists and theorists participated – by the jury of experts comprising Iris Dressler (director of the Württembergischer Kunstverein Stutttgart and member of the committee in Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen), Andrei Siclodi (curator, director of Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen), and Andrea Thal (curator, Contemporary Image Collective, Cairo).

In her research-based practice Eva Egermann investigates oppositional practices, assimilation, social movements and popular cultures connected to deviance, abnormality, sickness and disability. In Büchsenhausen she will be working on the second issue of the Crip Magazine, which is dedicated to this range of themes. Artist and filmmaker Stefan Hayn intends to undertake a critical examination of contemporary premises and manifestations of pictorial narratives for children in various media. Kerstin Schroedinger will expand upon her research on the historical and material conditions of analogue film and incorporate this research into a film project, which she will be developing in collaboration with artist and filmmaker Oliver Husain (www.husain.de). Finally, Vladislav Shapovalov will continue his work on the project Image Diplomacy, which explores specific functions of the image in the system of political culture, as well as illuminating certain historical aspects in the construction of the political-imaginary through exhibition strategies and the medium of photography during the 20th century.

The fellows will present their work and their plans for the coming months in the context of the Start Up Lectures 2016/17 on October 21st, 2016 and in the exhibition Uncanny Formations, which will be opening parallel to the Start Up Lectures.

Like every year, this artistic and theoretical research, and the processes of development and production will be accompanied by a diverse program of public events, which are suggested by the fellows and realized in close cooperation with them. For example, on November 5th a discussion will take place with artist Vladislav Shapovalov in the exhibition Uncanny Formations within the context of the Innsbruck “Premierentage“. Again in connection with Shapovalov’s research project Image Diplomacy and in cooperation with the Italy Center of the University of Innsbruck, on November 22nd contemporary historian Stefano Pisu will be speaking about the political background to the cultural union “Italy-USSR” and the presence of Soviet films at Venice Film Festival during the Cold War. More fellows’ events are being prepared and will be realized as from January 2017.
In the context of the Fellowship Program, Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen enters into project-linked cooperation with other institutions in the region. To conclude its one-year of collaboration with the Tiroler Volkskunstmuseum, as from October 13th 2016 Büchsenhausen will be showing the exhibition The Uncomfortable Science – Act 2 by artist Gareth Kennedy in the museum. In this context Kennedy expands on the investigation he began while in Southern Tyrol into representational ideology and the invention of tradition in the Third Reich, taking the activities of the National Socialist cultural commission “Ancestral Heritage” as an example. The exhibition unfolds a critical link to contemporary scientific debate in a research field still not entirely free of taboo, even today. It intervenes in the permanent presentation of historical rooms, thereby inevitably directing the focus towards the museum’s policies and history of collection.

Since June 2016 it has been possible for listeners of Freies Radio Innsbruck FREIRAD to hear unusual interpretations of common radio formats such as jingles or hit songs. These are part of the work of French choreographers Annie Vigier and Franck Apertet (Les gens d’Uterpan), who are using the radio waves as an exhibition space. This “exhibition” is programmed from Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen. In the context of the finissage on December 1st, 2016 there will be an evening of discussion with Les gens d’Uterpan, examining the background to and special features of choreographic work in the medium of radio.

Further, up-to-date details regarding content and times can be found here, on this website over the coming months.