Die andere Seite

Michael Bauer, James Ensor, Erwin Kneihsl, Alfred Kubin, Thomas Zipp

September 19 to December 05,  2009

Curator: Zdenek Felix

On September 18, 2009, KAI 10 | ARTHENA FOUNDATION will open up its fourth exhibition: Die andere Seite (The Other Side). Photography, video, sculpture, and paintings by Michael Bauer (b. 1973), Erwin Kneihsl (b. 1952), and Thomas Zipp (b. 1966) will form a contrast to selected prints by James Ensor and Alfred Kubin.

The title of the show refers to a novel of the same name by Alfred Kubin, published in 1909. In his book, Kubin creates a vibrant, global stage charged with violence that, with its apocalyptic dimensions foreshadows the approaching world war.

The works of Belgian James Ensor (1860-1949) and Austrian Alfred Kubin (1877-1959) tell of the absurdity of life, as well as the irrationality and inscrutability of human existence. Ensor’s and Kubin’s fantastical allegories and grotesque manifestations have found resonance in the art of the present time.

This exhibition associates the visionary, grotesque, and absurd works by Ensor and Kubin with the context of contemporary art. Using stylistic devices such as irony and the grotesque, as well as a healthy dose of skepticism toward utopias, the works by Michael Bauer, Erwin Kneihsl, and Thomas Zipp playfully mirror certain intellectual-spiritual tendencies of the present time. Although their world view is skeptical, in no way does it lack perspective.