Children curate

with works by

PETER FRITZENWALLNER, ALDO GIANNOTTI and MARLENE HAUSEGGER

curated by

LUKAS HAGER, SARA BINNA KANG, ELENA KANG, JOVAN KOCIC, ELIAS MATARADZIJA und LIVIA SANDAUER

Opening: Thursday, 27.03.14, 19:00h

Kunstraum am Schauplatz

Praterstraße 42, Hof 2

1020 Vienna

Duration of the exhibition 28.03. – 05.04.14

In the spring of 2014 Lukas Hager, Sara Binna Kang, Elena Kang, Jovan Kocic, Elias Mataradzija and Livia Sandauer – six children aged eleven to twelve from Floridsdorf with an interest in art – actively took part in the planning and preparation of an art exhibition. They visited the artists Peter Fritzenwallner, Aldo Giannotti and Marlene Hausegger in their studios, gave advice on drafting and implementing new work and addressed theoretical as well as technical issues concerning the communication of contemporary art. In short: they took over some of those tasks, which befit art curators in the exhibition circuit – and thereby also took on responsibility for the art that would be exhibited and its presentation. They carried out “cultural labour” (Kulturarbeit).

From this experiment sprung various moments and gestures of curating. Initially, the children seemed to slip into the paradoxical role of a mute [1] curator, whose mediation is based considerably on what it lacks. By actively listening, they allowed the artists to speak differently about their own art (Peter Fritzenwallner compared this aspect to a „psycho-therapeutic session without a therapist“). Occasionally, while doing so, the personal, often not so smooth relationship, which the artists have towards the figure of the curator, came to light.

On their part, the children gathered information about the conceptual background of the art works and decided which of this should be made available to the public. In dealing with contemporary art forms some also made an effort to look for a general notion of art. Others however, hopped on to the creative merry-go-round of art and joined in …

All of this happened against the background of a reflection on the concept of the break as leeway between work and leisure. In what way is leisure [2] a necessary condition of any artistic work? How does art behave towards this - in our culture fundamental - difference of free time and work time? Is art the utopian attempt to act beyond this division? The work, which is exhibited here, provides ambiguous, partly very personal answers to those questions, which appeared again and again in the conversations between artists and curators.

[1] The Latin word »infantia« means: »childhood« as well as the »inability to speak«. Compare: J.-F. Lyotard, Kindheitslektüren

[2] The word »school« has it’s root in the old greek scholé, meaning »leisure«.

* * *

Contact person in Austria:

Giorgio Palma

palmagiorgio@gmail.com

+43 (0) 699 18904991

Contact person in Switzerland and Italy

Luca Depietri

depietri.luca@gmail.com

+41 794770530

A project by KKuK in collaboration with AHS Franklinstraße 26, 1210 Vienna and the Wiener Art Foundation.

Assistance: Anke Armandi, Miriam Boztepe-Rhomberg and Doris Eibelwimmer

Videodocumentation: Klemens Koscher (camera) und Viktor Schaider (camera and cut)

Moderation of the children curatorium : Gerald Straub