FJK3, Vienna (AT)
10.11.2017 – 26.11.2017
Curator:
Katarzyna Uszynska (PL)
Artists:
Carl Andre (US), Kerstin Brätsch (DE), Thomas Demand (DE), Donald Judd (US), Craig Kauffman (US),
Sol LeWitt (US), Robert Morris (US), Hans Schabus (AT), Markus Schinwald (AT), Kay Walkowiak (AT)
The exhibition "Qualia" at FRANZ JOSEFS KAI 3, which shows artists of two generations from a Viennese private collection, focuses on different artistic strategies to investigate the phenomenon of perception. The primary focus is on perceptual interactions between artist, object and viewer, as well as on the relationship between medium and reality. Some of the historical positions in the exhibition - that are assigned, among other things, to Minimal Art trend as exemplified by Donald Judd, Carl Andre or Sol LeWitt - develop their material and spatial concepts in confrontation with Abstract Expressionism and its performative elements. In Robert Morris' works, on the other hand, a deft juggling with the relationship between body and space is evident. Craig Kauffman, who belonged to the group around LA's Ferus Gallery, addresses the question of perception of psychological and physical properties of materials. Whereas, in the 1960s and 1970s, the focus was on investigating the qualities of art media (material, colors, tones, and forms) and their perceptual qualities, as well as on questioning work as a process of interaction, the younger generation shown in contrast - Hans Schabus, Markus Schinwald, Thomas Demand, and Kay Walkowiak - concentrates on analyzing self-perception and investigating the psychological and physical environment of the production of art and its perception. What the artists have in common is their interest in the work of art as a catalyst of perceptual processes: art can trigger perception and at the same time question perceptual conventions.
The positions illustrated here deal with the perception of the real as opposed to the mental processing of what is perceived - cognition. Qualia (lat. qualis "as constituted") are the subjective properties of experiences (physical sensations, feelings, emotions). The sciences are methodically bound to the external perspective. Artistic investigations, on the other hand, allow a glimpse of the inner perspective of experience.
Text: Katarzyna Uszynska, NKW, Vienna 2017
Photos: (c) Matthias Bildstein