Vesna Bukovec

Exhibition Rituals I: Corelations

Exhibition: Rituals I: Corelations
Venue: Fotogalerie Wien, Währinger Strasse 59/WUK, Vienna, AT
Date: 3 September – 5 October 2019
Opening: Monday, 2 September at 7 pm

Artists: Adidal Abou-Chamat (DE), Iris Andraschek (AT), Vesna Bukovec (SI), Denis Butorac (HR), Andrés Duque (VE/ES), Brigitte Konyen (AT), Simon Lehner (AT), Erik Levine (US), Marta Zgierska (PL)

Curated by: Fotogalerie Wien Collective (Herman Capor, Susanne Gamauf, Brigitte Konyen, Michael Michlmayr, Andreas Müller, Petra Noll-Hammerstiel, Johan Nane Simonsen, Katarína Szabová und Patrick Winkler)

Vesna Bukovec, still form White Performances / Positive Affirmations (2010) series of 4 videos

About the exhibition

Rituals are an important component in human expression and communication behaviours and tell us much about the values, understanding of roles and social interaction where they often assume a regulatory and supportive function. The complexity of the substantive issues and the great importance of rituals for humanity inspired the curatorial team of the FOTOGALERIE WIEN to put a focal point on this theme with a series of four exhibitions for the years 2019/2020. The term “ritual” was originally only in common use in liturgical and/or ceremonial contexts but is now in general use at every social level. A ritual is a series of actions carried out according to fixed rules, usually in a specified order. This is primarily aimed at engendering identity and meaning and correlates with a desire for orientation, knowledge and community actions. It is distinguishable from everyday habits i.e. from instrumental, regular and, above all, purposeful activities that can, however, have a “ritual character” ascribed to them. First and foremost, therefore, rituals occupy the spiritual and emotional sphere. Additional characteristics are enactment, processuality and, usually, a high degree of symbolism too.
The four exhibitions are concerned with social rituals and their associated networks of relationships: with rituals that articulate demonstrations of power, suppression and exclusion along with religious and other ceremonial rituals. In the course of this, the codes, behaviours and forms of communication related to the various rituals will be examined.

The first exhibition with the title, Correlations, shows works by artists who are concerned with eliciting the complexities of identity, role models and the ritual structures in the societies and cultures of various countries. On the one hand, their point of departure is their own ego as formed by their (in part, gender specific) experiences of education, tradition, religion and conventions, that may be of social relevance. On the other hand they examine the modes of behaviour, structures and norms of communities that are articulated in ritual expressions. Relational structures are examined which are each influenced by various ritual forms of conduct and interaction. These rituals link specific groups to a community that promises support and security on the one hand and, on the other, may trigger constraints, restrictions and other borderline experiences. The artists selected here visualise the phenomena of “ritual” foremost in the form of metaphors, symbolic staging or the re-working of documentary material.

Excerpt from the text by Petra Noll-Hammerstiel

More about the exhibition
Event on Facebook

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www.fotogalerie-wien.at

Opening: Monday, 2 September at 7 p.m.
Introduction: Petra Noll-Hammerstiel

Accompanying Program: Wednesday, 2 October 2019 at 7 p.m.
Reading with projection: Das Flüstern der Dinge –from the photographic diary 2008–2016 by Thomas Krempke, Zurich

Sponsored by: BKA Österreich; MA7-Kultur; Cyberlab
Thanks to: Dejan Sluga, Miha Colnar, Lisl Ponger and the Slovenian Culture and Information Centre SKICA

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I am participating with the White Performances / Positive Affirmations (2010) series of 4 videos.

In the video performances I use a critical and an ironic feminist approach to highlight the absurdity of the constant search for happiness and perfection. Repetitive statements that can be heard and read are a parody to the power of suggestive thinking from the popular self-help culture which creates an illusion of possible control over one’s own life and encourages obsessive engagement with oneself, with their own image, health and happiness. Mantras are accompanied by repetitive gestures, which represent small domestic tasks, which society (still) attributes to women and in which they are supposed to find self-fulfillment and personal satisfaction.

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Photo: Fotogalerie Wien’s archive and Michael Michlmayr