Petra Lange-Berndt Bücher

Entropy seems to be an accepted norm in the world. Confronted with entropy, human action, research, and order are able to offer less and less resistance. But instead of lamenting the impossibility of finishing this project, Lea Grebe's art proposes a new perspective through the interface of science and technology. Over the years, she has built up an archive to document dead insects-where they were found, how they were found, and what state they were in when discovered. The insects have been cast in bronze in an elaborate process. By being transformed into durable material, it seems as if the creatures have undergone a final metamorphosis, in which they take on an ultimate, artificially maintained appearance. The emphasis on the individual and what is individual is evidence of the search for a new, ecological, empathetic way of thinking that honours the independent and inimitable.

The climate crisis causes floods, forest fires and the extinction of species, a pandemic paralyzes large parts of the world. At the same time, we observe how emissions worldwide are falling due to the lockdown-related standstill and how the situation for the animal world relaxes in some now deserted habitats. How is the future going to look like? The artist collective Steinbrener/Dempf & Huber deals with this question and develops visions of the future, which it stages in huge dioramas. The artists use the extensive collection of animal preparations of the OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH as a basis. Their works intensively deal with the precarious relationship between man and nature; they are utopian, ambiguous and sometimes grotesque, full of humorous allusions and quotes from the history of nature, art and pop.

Gerade in Zeiten des Neoliberalismus, angedrohter "konservativer Revolutionen" und Faschismus-Renaissancen übt der politisch-ästhetische Werkzeugkasten der langen 60er Jahre mit ihren Revolten und Revolutionen eine große Anziehungskraft aus. Die Beiträger*innen widmen sich aus einer kritischen Perspektive der Porträtierung der 1968er in historischer wie zeitgenössischer Kunst und visueller und materieller Kultur sowie ihren Diskursen. Somit positionieren sie sich dezidiert in den Debatten um globale Zusammenhänge und bieten erstmalig aus kunstwissenschaftlicher Warte einen Überblick über entsprechende Praktiken, ihre Bewegungen, Konflikte, Utopien und Wunschproduktionen

Part of the acclaimed series of anthologies which document major themes and ideas in contemporary art.