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Illusion – Delusion (group), Forum Kunst Contemporary, Millstatt

My work gets exhibited once more at Forum Kunst Contemporary, in group show called “Illusion – Delusion“, curated by Andrea K. Schlehwein. The exhibition includes works by Vadim Fishkin, Georg Planer, Annamaria Kowalsky, Tim van den Oudenhoven, Josef Winkler and me.

  • Opening on March 5th, 2023 (11am), including the dance performance “EMBRACE FALLING” (Andrea K. Schlehwein + NETZWERK AKS; Maria Mavridou)
  • The exhibition runs until April 15th, 2023

  • Opening hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 3pm – 6pm

I’ll be at the opening — join me there! <3

All exhibition views below (c) Tim van den Oudenhoven

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Conscious Artist Membership

After years of solo and group deep dives with artist from all over the world, I decided to offer an affordable membership program that enables everyone to join in:

The Conscious Artist Membership offers access to monthly group calls, a private FB group enabling direct communication between peers, and — can now be subscribed to by anyone, independently of their age, background, and whether they studied art. This is an open platform for those who want to discuss artmaking and the art life holistically <3

Details here — spread the word!

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Kunst und Schnittlauch (December 16th, 2022)

I was invited once more to talk about art and life, at “Kunst und Schnittlauch“, an awesome weekly get-together at Kunsthandel Giese und Schweiger (Vienna).

If you can, do check it out in person: K&S happens every friday, free of charge, at 3pm: you get free drinks and food, and at 4pm the hosts (usually Alexander Giese and Christof Habres) talk about the week’s art events. It’s a great format, and it’s awesome people.

Here’s the link to the video of our talk.

Photo from https://www.instagram.com/p/CmTYyJSM5GE/
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Zeit und Zuschauer, Bulgarisches Kulturinstitut, Vienna

Kunstverein “DerMeteor” is organizing this group exhibition at the Bulgarian Cultural Institute, at Haus Wittgenstein (Vienna). The show is curated by Josef Pauschenwein and includes works of Michael Csokay, Datim Dimiter Dimov, Ivan Dobromir, Josef Pauschenwein, Stefan Petrunov — and yours truly.

Opening on January 8th, 2023 (6:30pm), ending on February 15th, 2023.

 

From the curatorial statement:

“ZEIT und ZUSCHAUER
DIE ZEIT … sie gilt uns gemeinsam mit dem Raum als Bedingung für die Möglichkeit unserer Erfahrungen. Sie selbst ist ohne Qualität, daher kann man sie auch nicht fassen. Es sind lineare, von der Vergangenheit zur Zukunft hin ablaufende Geschehnisse, die wir wahrnehmen. Bewegung ist das eigentliche Erkennungsmerkmal der Zeit. Die Zeit zum Thema zu machen heißt, sie dreifach zu befragen: nach dem, was war – weit über unsere Erinnerungen hinaus; nachdem, was wir planend erhoffen oder spekulativ erwarten dürfen; nach dem, was Natur und Geschichte aus uns gemacht haben und was uns zur Aufgabe wird im Jetzt.

DER ZUSCHAUER … er ist der, der den Abstand sucht zur Dynamik aktueller Ereignisse. Er hält sich heraus und schätzt den Platz mit dem besten Überblick in vorderster Reihe. Oder er duckt sich weg in einen dunklen Winkel, von wo aus er unbemerkt und verstohlen seine voyeuristische Leidenschaft pflegt. Es gibt aber auch die, die sich abwenden – in Bestürzung, Verzweiflung, aus Ekel oder einfach als Flucht. Jede Reaktion des Zuschauers, selbst noch die Teilnahmslosigkeit, hat Wirkung im Fluss der Ereignisse.

DIE KÜNSTLER … sie wissen um ihre Doppelrolle als Zuschauer und Akteure. Der scharfe Blick, die konzentrierte Aufmerksamkeit, die ästhetische Wahrnehmung – sie sind Ausgangspunkte künstlerischer Praxis. Diese erst befähigen sie, zu Gestaltern der Erfahrungen der Zeit zu werden. Im Focus steht zuerst die Gegenwart. Zum einen, weil sich in ihr die Linien von  Vergangenheit und Zukunft kreuzen, zum andern, weil sich aktuelle Ereignisse besonders aufdrängen. Die Werkgestaltung ist dann die Suche der je eigenen Position zu Fragen der Zeit. Die Werke selbst werden Teil des zeitlichen Geschehens, … wenn, ja wenn es die Zuschauer gibt, die sie wahrnehmen, die sich mit ihnen intellektuell auseinandersetzen und/oder emotional bewegen lassen.

Kurator J. Pauschenwein“

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News: Kunst und Klischee – Podcast

Kunst und Klischee, the podcast that Kevo and I started in 2020, struck a deal with Missing Link Media. This means that we are now part of the finest podcasting network that this country has to offer. Wow!

We started this podcast in the first lockdown, with the idea to discuss the actual lives and challenges of creatives, similar to my On Doubt YouTube channel — but with an exclusive focus on LOCAL creatives, German language, and the urge to constantly mixi emerging with established professionals.

We expanded this to include live podcasting a year later, something that wouldn’t have been possible without Philipp of Audiamo+ constantly having our backs. And now here we are, mingling our way into your hearts <3

 

PS: Thanks to Stefan Lassnig for trusting us, and to Philipp Pankraz for highlighting Missing Link in the first place.

(c) Jana Madzigon
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Kunst. Leben. Leidenschaft. (October 16th, 2022, Museum Angerlehner, Thalheim bei Wels)

My works are part of this major group exhibition, celebrating the ten year anniversary of Museum Angerlehner — curated by Günther Oberhollenzer:

“Das privat geführte Museum Angerlehner gehört zu den wichtigen Orten für zeitgenössische Kunst in Österreich. Die Sammlungsschau zum zehnjährigen Bestehen des Museums ermöglicht einen vertiefenden wie überraschenden Einblick in die vielfältigen Bestände österreichischer wie auch internationaler Kunst. Rund 200 Werke von 125 Künstler:innen sind in der großen Ausstellungshalle sowie den Galerie- und Grafikräumen zu sehen.”

“Der Kunstleidenschaft des Privatsammlers Heinz Josef Angerlehner, seinem Gespür, seinen persönlichen Vorlieben und Interessen wird in der Schau bewusst Rechnung getragen. Die von Kurator Günther Oberhollenzer gestaltete Ausstellung streicht die Besonderheiten der Sammlung Angerlehner heraus und ermöglicht interessante wie ungewöhnliche Dialoge zwischen den Kunstwerken – oft auch über eingeübte kunsthistorische Einordnungen hinweg. Individuelle Sichtweisen und persönliche Vorlieben werden selbstbewusst vorgestellt. Thematische Klammern widmen sich relevanten Aspekten der Malerei wie Menschenbild und Naturlandschaft, Farbrausch und Abstraktion. Zu sehen sind aber auch fotografische Wirklichkeiten, zeichnerische Bildwelten und skulpturale Positionen. Die Werkauswahl vermittelt in ihrer assoziativen Zusammenstellung viel vom einmaligen Charakter der Sammlung und lässt die Besucher:innen in wunderbare künstlerische Welten eintauchen.“

 

Here’s a video where Günther Oberhollenzer and Yours Truly talk a bit about the show 🙂

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If You Can’t Make Sense, You Can Still Draw Plants (Workshop, Vienna)

I’ll be hosting a 4-session drawing workshop at the “Klasse für Alle” at the University of Applied Arts (Vienna), scheduled between October 2022 and January 2023.

Participation is open to everyone, the course costs €80; more here.

About the Workshop

The goal ist to integrate drawing as strategy to document processes of reflection, introspection and opinion-making. What does it mean to draw? How do you draw an experience, a feeling, a memory? An opinion, hope or otherness?
How do you then draw specific plants, landscapes or people? How would you draw the change of things, or the passing of time? How do you draw when you can’t draw? How to you draw together?

The workshop supports experimentation, with a clear focus on the process — and results being optional.

“Klasse für Alle is a new program of continuing education, created by the University of applied Arts Vienna to opening up their institutes and departments towards all those who are interested in discussing, reflecting upon, and redesigning of our society. The urgency of current existential dangers requires collective action and dialogue. We invite people of all ages, cultures and backgrounds, from all professional fields, with or without previous education, and with a diverse range of skills and interests, to work with us on building a present and future worth living. […]“

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Kunst und Klischee Live: Lukas Kranzelbinder (October 3rd, 2022, Badeschiff, Wien)

The Kunst und Klischee podcast by Kevo and me is back with another live event: we’re recording at Badeschiff Wien, in front of an audience, which can include you.

Our guest is musician and composer Lukas Kranzelbinder. Drop by for an evening full of delights: once the recording is over, it’s possible to mingle with the crowd, and dance to Philipp‘s music..

Monday, October 3rd, 7pm

(c) Peter van Breukelen
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Die Zeit danach (October 1st, 2022, Alfred Adler Center International, Vienna)

My work gets exhibited within a solo exhibition at the Alfred Adler Center International in Vienna, which is part of the “Österreichischer Verein für Individualpsychologie”. The show happens within the framework of this year’s “Lange Nacht der Museen” — a night where a whole lot of museums stay open for the public, to be visited with a single ticket.

This exhibition continues my focus on trauma recovery, on “the time after” traumatic events happened.  I am very thankful to have been asked to collaborate and to be able to exhibit there: the institute’s focus on trauma recovery includes their project “Die Boje“, a crisis intervention center for children and teenagers.

On the opening evening (October 1st, 8pm) there’ll be a conversation between Alexa Weber, Ilonka Schwarzenfeld (two psychotherapists and psychoanalysts) and me.

Details here.

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Muted Rainbow (September 22nd, 2022, gallery twenty-six, Vienna)

“Muted Rainbow” is my upcoming solo exhibition at gallery twenty-six/Vienna. It shows paintings and drawings that blend everyday moments with dream states, dissociations, and various emotive and sub-emotive conditions.

About the exhibition

The title blends two topics: In nature, rainbows refer to “phenomena caused by refractions of the sun’s light by rain or water droplets“; in everyday life, the word is used for a wide range of related, typically colorful things. Rainbows stand for hopes and promises, diversity and peace. Muted colors on the other hand are those with low saturation; they are created by adding black, white, or complementary colors to whichever base pigment is used. Muted colors are dull, desatured, a tad bit grey.

In the context of the exhibition, the term refers to the undiscovered, as well as the un- or underdeveloped: without contact to the world, it’s difficult to experience oneself as joyful or alive; one rather remains hidden, insecure and needy. These situations frequently lead to strategies of control, in order to establish safety when interacting with the world. Yet control also deadens the lively and joyful, instead of simply strengthening them; the urge for balance between these opposing desires (for control as well as liveliness) thus marks the life of many people. An alternative to control would be trust, which in turn requires courage.

How would a life be like that operates in courage and liveliness, that’s self- and world-confident? A life beyond the Muted Rainbow?

Dates

Please consider the following dates:

  • Exhibition opening: Thursday, September 22nd, 2022, 7-10pm, with opening words by Esther Mlenek
  • Concert: Soirée de chansons: Remy Mytteis plays in the exhibition
    Saturday, September 24th, 7:30pm
  • Artist Tour: I walk you through the exhibition 🙂
    Thursday, October 6th, 7-10pm
  • Finissage: we’ll have a fancy closing event
    Thursday, October 20th, 7-10pm

At gallery twenty-six, Schwertgasse 4, 1010 Wien/Vienna

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Ethics of Collecting, Moderation (September 9th, 2022, Vienna Contemporary)

I’ll be moderating a round table for Vienna Contemporary, with guests Agnes Husslein-Arco  (Heidi Horten Collection) and Heike Meier-Rieper (EVN Collection), about the Ethics of Collecting Art; schedule for September 9th, 4:30-6pm at Biergart’l im Stadtpark.

From the press release: “Two panel discussions aim to question the value – axiology – and responsibility in terms of diverse modes of collecting. This value is understood in an economical, ethical, and moral sense. Diverse experts from the most prominent institutions in the public, corporate and private sectors have been invited.

With representatives of various public institutions and private collections. More information at www.viennacontemporary.at. Moderated by Christian Bazant-Hegemark.“

You can watch the recorded livestream on Instagram.

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Philosophicum “Close(d) Futures” (July 22nd, 2022, Plattform Grünspan)

I’m part of a roundtable on speculations about the future, moderated by journalist and cultural worker Tina Perisutti. The guests are Elisabeth von Samsonow, Nora Jacobs and Stefan Tiefengraber — and yours truly <3

The event happens on Friday, July 22nd at 7pm, at Grünspan – Platform für Kunst und Kultur im Drautal. Drop by!

 

PS: You can watch the video through this link — the video owner disabled playback on external websites, so there’s no way to  embed it here: https://youtu.be/b82D7-X2PJQ

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2nd creation – artificial intelligence (July 8th, 2022, Vijion Art Gallery, Bolzano)

My work is part of a group show on artificial intelligence, at Vijion Art Gallery in Bolzano/South Tyrol.
From the press release:

Die Gruppenausstellung zum Thema „2° creation-artificial intelligence“, möchte die Künstliche Intelligenz-Automatisierung im Diskurs bringen, die unsere Welt verändert wie einst der elektrische Storm.

Künstliche Intelligenz ist die nächste Stufe der Automatisierung. Sie erleichtert die Buchhaltung, rechnet im Auftrag des Menschen oder verarbeiten Texte und übernimmt Fähigkeiten und Kompetenzen, die den Menschen übertreffen. Doch mit Künstlicher Intelligenz treffen jetzt Maschinen komplexe Entscheidungen, die bisher nur Menschen treffen konnten. Wenn Datengrundlagen und Entscheidungsrahmen stimmen, entscheidet KI-Systeme besser, schneller und billiger.

The show happens between July 9th to August 6th 2022, and includes the works of Mirijam Heiler, Valeria Stuflesser, Lena Geiser, Josefa Schundau/Kira Krüger, Marlies Baumgartner, AliPaloma, Simon Perathoner, Harald Plattner, Manuel van der Veen, Maximilian Willeit/Manuel Resch, Peter Senoner, Hannes Egger, Tino-Roberto Bors and yours truly.

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Challenges of Creating a Portrait (Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität, Linz; June 2nd, 2022)

I was asked to hold a lecture about the “Challenges of Creating a Portrait” within the elective week organized by Darrel Toulon. Darrel founded and conceptualized “docu-dance-theatre — a model for participatory performance art, trauma transformation and societal change“. It’s a platform to engage with childhood rape victims.

Darrel Toulon: “I realized that although there are a lot of books, films, features and other publications directly focused on the women who suffered, there was almost nothing concerning the children born to these women, and who survived infancy. The literature which I found was coloured predominantly by feminism, and humanitarianism concerns for the violated women – the existence of babies conceived through rape given little or no attention – violating in turn their rights as human beings“

The workshop week at Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität Linz included international speakers like Ajna Jusić (Bosnia), Amra Delić (Bosnia), Mercy Nabiyre (Uganda/UK) and others.

I participated with a lecture about the dynamics involved in creating the film portrait of Linda Sharrock and Mario Rechtern (2019); how to connect to strangers, trust your intuition, and how to navigate the challenges of inherent portrait transgressions. The lecture happened on June 2nd, 2022

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Taking It Personally: .lab-podcast episode with Christian Bazant-Hegemark

I was asked to talk about art and life, with Emily Tolman. The conversation has been published on Spotify and YouTube.

From the show notes: “Meet Christian Bazant-Hegemark, a painter, game developer, lecturer and more. On this episode of TIP, we talk about some of the flaws of art school. What it teaches us and how that differs from what we actually need to be taught in order to navigate the art world. We talk about schedules, being your own manager, networking and much more. Stick till the end to get some TIPs for artists!“

An excerpt from around 29:00: “I’m not sure whether I can think of a ‘biggest’ frustration (about the art market) right away — but I think maybe one challenge is that .. people start making art for very idealistic or maybe also egoistic reasons. It’s about expressing yourself, learning a complex language or craft; I don’t think that many people start making art because they want to make money.
So then you develop your competencies and you get better at what you do — and it often feels very linear: you get better you get better. And you also understand more about art history, because you also dive into it, you want to understand the system that you are in; and then you understand that what you do cannot so easily be a linear story, because others pursue entirely different stories or aesthetics or contexts.

And so already this shows each of us who make art, that this can be a very complex and long journey. And none of this is related to economic aspects. It’s really just this very beautiful, or maybe very overwhelming, approach to living a life.
And then, all of a sudden, this doesn’t work. Because of course you need some means to live a life, economically. I don’t know why the ideal very often is to make art full time, because that would mean.. already from the word, it sounds like a full time job; but of course in a full time employment situation you automatically get money — the only thing you need to do is to show up, and not mess things up. And with art, you can show up, and make amazing work, and you don’t get a single Euro or Dollar or anything. What does this mean?“

 

Check out .lab on Instagram

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Kunst und Schnittlauch (May 27th, 2022)

“Kunst und Schnittlauch” is a weekly happening at Kunsthandel Giese und Schweiger (Vienna). Apart from bread with chive, you get various cocktails plus a live conversation about the week’s art happenings — usually between Alexander Giese and Christof Habres.

Now on May 27th, I’ll take Christof’s seat, and talk with Alexander about NFTs, his upcoming public conversation with Johann König at the ORF Radiokulturhaus, etc.

Join us between 3-8pm — it’s free, with food and drinks! Our conversation happens at 4pm, and is streamed via Instagram live here.

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Shifted Realities (May 14th, Galerie Heimo Bachlechner, Graz)

My work is part of the group exhibition “Shifted Realities” at Galerie Heimo Bachlechner (Graz), next to the works of Christine Liebich and Sissa Micheli.

The show focuses concepts of reality, and how artists deal with it, and shift it — within drawing painting, sculpture and photography; between abstraction and figuration, reality and virtuality, displacement and fiction, etc.

It opens on Saturday, May 14th (3pm), with an opening speech by Roman Grabner (curator and director of Bruseum). It is part of the “aktuelle kunst Galerientage Graz” exhibition program.

  • Opening: Saturday, May 14th, 2022 (3pm)
  • Address: Liebenauer Hauptstraße 322, 8041 Graz
  • The show can be seen until June 18th, 2022.
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Hybrid Formats: Symposion & Exhibition at Art Space Stift Millstatt (April 1-3, 2022)

I was asked to participate and co-moderate Andrea K. Schlehwein‘s “Hybrid Formats”, the 9th edition of “POSITIONEN 022 | Discourse + Dialogue in Contemporary Dance”, happening at Art Space Stift Millstatt (Austria) on April 1-3, 2022.

The event is in itself a hybrid form, combining lectures, dialog platforms and a group exhibition — which also includes my work.

For the symposion..

  • I will give a 20min introductory lecture about (“Speculations About Hybridity“) on April 1st (5:40pm), and
  • a one hour lecture (“Depicting Others: About Inherent Transgressions and Dynamics of Agency and Appropriation) on April 2nd (4:30pm).
  • I’ll also moderate several of the conversations happening on that weekend.

Join us there for deep dialogs and good company!

Monrovia, 2017 | oil on handmade pixelation on canvas
140 × 148 cm
Kabul, 2017 | oil on handmade pixelation on canvas
140 × 180 cm
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Unexpected Learnings and Potential Wisdoms: Game Cultures, Art and Knowledge Exchange (Lecture)

I was asked to give a lecture on specific correlations between art and videogames, at Margarete Jahrmann‘s “Ludic Soirée”, which is part of the “Experimental Game Cultures” MA study she leads.

This is a public event which you can attend free of charge, happening at Die Angewandte/Wien on March 2nd, 2022 (7pm) at Vordere Zollamtsstrasse 7.

From the description:

Game Cultures use various structures that can be precious within the fields of art and sciences: transparency, knowledge exchange, mental health discussions, collaborative digital work environments, a positive attitude towards networking and more.

The artist and veteran game designer Christian Bazant-Hegemark offers a comparative analysis about potential lessons from the gaming field, where he worked as programmer on various AAA titles (GTA3, Vice City, Max Payne, Manhunt etc). But then his focus shifted to the real AAA of Agency and All fine Arts.

Bazant-Hegemark studied Fine Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, did a PhD on “Painting and Digital Technologies”, works in drawing, painting and code. Community Building projects with the aim to make art world dynamics transparent and curatorial practice in over thirty exhibitions, the transmedial art space mo.ë., etc., will form the backdrop of this discourse, led by the head of Experimental Game Cultures, Margarete Jahrmann.

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Contemporary Art Strategies – Speculations About The Artist’s Life (Lecture)

I was asked to hold a lecture at Die Angewandte, in the class of Jan Svenungsson.
From the teaser:

Before his fine art studies, Christian Bazant-Hegemark used to program video games for several years. Having experience in two industries enables him to offer comparative speculations: how could knowledge transfer benefit artists?

A conversation about the limits of art school education, about everyday realities of being an artist, and about the unique potential of continuously refining an individualized way of living.

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Zeichnen ist politisch (Workshop Series)

Veronika Dirnhofer, Elke Krasny and Ruby Sircar conceptualized and organized a workshop series about the topic of “drawing is political”.  within this series, I’ll host a workshop on November 20th, 2021 (11am-1pm) at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.

I devised over twenty individual, pair and group exercices to challenge specific topics inherent to representational art:

  • how to rethink surface appearance,
  • how to rethink craft and mastery,
  • how to rethink retinal visuality,
  • how to rehink transgression through representation
  • etc.

Details at the Academy’s website are here.

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My lecture at the Viennese Psychoanalytic Society/Wiener Psychoanalytische Vereinigung

I was invited by Jeanne Wolff-Bernstein to hold a lecture about art and identity; the lecture will happen at the Viennese Psychoanalytic Society (“Wiener Psychoanalytische Vereinigung”), the world*s oldest psychoanalytic society — the one founded by Sigmund Freund, with prominent members being Alfred Adler, Wilhelm Reich, Carl Jung etc.

I’ll talk about depicting individuals that “arent’t us”: about the transgressions this inherently includes, about trying to paint what we cannot understand. About the self-portrait aspect that’s part of painting anyone else.

The lecture happens on September 22nd 2021, 8:15pm at Wiener Psychoanalytische Vereinigung, Salzgries 16/3 (1010 Wien). Here’s the link to the event.

 

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“Community and Isolation in Contemporary Art”: Artist Talk with Tanja Prušnik and Günther Oberhollenzer

I was invited to be an artist-in-residence at the unique MillStArt exhibition and residency program. Part of this is a public artist talk, which happens on September 10th (Friday) at 8pm. The talk is led Tanja Prušnik, and features curator Günther Oberhollenzer and me, focussing on “Community and Isolation in Contemporary Art”. Drop by!