EXHIBITION │ KARL SALZMANN: MONOPULISM
Exhibition Opening:
KARL SALZMANN
Monopulism
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM │ARTISTS’ TALK
Karl Salzmann in conversation with Austrian ISCP artist in residence Sonia Leimer, moderated by Kari Conte, ISCP Director of Programs and Exhibitions
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM │OPENING RECEPTION and LIVE PERFORMANCE by Karl Salzmann
The Austrian Cultural Forum New York (ACFNY), in collaboration with studio das weisse haus and Erste Bank, is pleased to present the exhibition Monopulism by Austrian artist Karl Salzmann – winner of the second Erste Bank ExtraVALUE Art Award. On display from June 29 to September 4, 2017, Monopulism presents a multi-media installation focusing on an artistic and scientific approach to sound as a weapon and means of manipulation and oppression.
The term Monopulism is etymologically not clearly identifiable. This very fact describes the underlying concept of the exhibition perfectly. Both the title and the exhibition itself unite the attributes of mono, populism, monopole and manipulation in an artistic space, composed of pre-existent works and new pieces, specifically tailored to the venue. Salzmann’s installation at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York comprises three elements: a simple wooden bar, an acoustic monument, and two automated vacuum cleaners, autonomously roaming the area. The single elements, if observed isolated, might seem aesthetically pleasing and not menacing at all, but their activity and interplay remain somehow irritating.
One of the works on display, an acoustic monument called Lautsprechermonument, emits a near-inaudible low-frequency signal resonating with the room which causes physical unease and the feeling of an invisible threat among the visitors. As soon as the monument comes alive, it blanks out everything else. Conversations are no longer possible and staying in the exhibition space becomes almost unbearable.
Salzmann’s Monopulism reflects upon social and political influences and transforms them into metaphors and signs through their visual and acoustic realization/manifestation. Their neutral, sober presentation leaves it completely up to the viewer to interpret relations between different arguments, without proposing predefined opinions or solutions.
ABOUT KARL SALZMANN
Karl Salzmann, born in 1979 in Vorarlberg, Austria, studied visual arts at the department of digital arts and holds a diploma from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. He followed his interest in acoustics, taking classes in Computermusik & New Media (elak) from 2011-2012 at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and is currently writing his doctoral thesis at the Academy of Fine Arts. He mainly focuses on sound research, experimental music and contemporary musical phenomena. During his intensive work with sounds, rhythm and their various audio-visual forms, he found his way to a form language, which is characterized by its simplicity as well as restraint of movement and sound.
Salzmann’s works have been presented (among others) at:
Kunsthaus Graz (2013, solo), Kunsthalle Bratislava (2014, solo), MAK – museum of applied arts Vienna (2012), Athens Digital Art Festival (2014), Künstlerhaus Wien (2013) and are in the public collections of the Austrian government, city of Vienna and the province of Vorarlberg. Karl Salzmann also currently works as a lecturer, researcher and artistic & scientific assistant at the department of art & science at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Find out more about Karl Salzmann >>>here
ABOUT KARI CONTE AND SONIA LEIMER
Kari Conte is Director of Programs and Exhibitions at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York, a position she has held since 2010. At ISCP, she leads residencies, exhibitions, and public programs in which she collaborates with more than a hundred artists each year. Recent exhibitions she has curated at ISCP include The Animal Mirror (2016), Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens: Measures of Inequity (2016), Eva Kot’átková: Error, (2016), Aqueous Earth, (2015) and Foundland: Escape Routes and Waiting Rooms (2014). She has also curated exhibitions for the Aichi Triennale (2013) and Performa Biennial (2011), among others. As a writer, she is interested in the intersection of art and politics as well as institutional and exhibition histories. She published the first monograph on artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles (Sternberg Press, 2015) and has contributed to numerous other books and journals. Before joining ISCP, she was based in London, where she worked at Whitechapel Gallery and received an MA in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art.
Sonia Leimer lives and works in Vienna. She studied architecture at the Technical University of Vienna and the Academy of Fine Art Vienna and taught at the Academy for Art and Photography together with Martin Guttmann from 2012–2016. From 2007 to 2012, she also hosted a radio show titled City and the Image. In her installations, she explores our perceptual foundations, which are formed on the basis of individual, historical, and media-related patterns of experience. As products of concrete historical contexts, rooms and objects undergo a transformation in which history and societal changes become palpable. Leimer exhibited her works internationally at Leopold Museum, Vienna; Galerie nächst St. Stephan, Vienna; Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen; Barbara Gross Galerie, Munich; Los Angeles Museum of Art; 5th Moscow Biennial; artothek, Cologne; Museion – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Bozen, Italy; MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles; Kunstverein Basis, Frankfurt; BAWAG Contemporary, Vienna; Salzburger Kunstverein; and Manifesta 7, Rovereto.
ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL STUDIO & CURATORIAL PROGRAM
The International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) supports the creative development of artists and curators and promotes exchange through residencies and public programs. Housed in a former factory in Brooklyn, with 35 light-filled work studios, two galleries, and a project space, ISCP is New York’s most comprehensive international visual arts residency program, founded in 1994. ISCP organizes exhibitions, events and offsite projects, which are free and open to all, sustaining a vibrant community of contemporary art practitioners and diverse audiences. Over 1,200 artists and curators from more than 70 countries, including the United States have undertaken residencies at ISCP.
ABOUT THE ExtraVALUE ART AWARD
A collaboration between studio das weisse haus, the Austrian Cultural Forum New York, and Erste Bank, the Erste Bank ExtraVALUE Art Award was initiated in 2016 with the aim to promote a young artist and facilitate a one-month residency in New York as a phase of inspiration and to expand his/her own network. Artists whose work has already been presented in das weisse haus or who have participated in the studio and residency program of studio das weisse haus are eligible to submit entries for the ExtraVALUE Art Award.