September 01 – 29, 2025
Rubber Souls, Periscope Salzburg, AT

Rubber Souls is an exhibition by Viennese artists Anny Wass and Wolfgang Obermair. The two come together in the Salzburg art space Periscope to explore shared aspects of their work: materiality, surface, environment, and animism. Their positions materialize the handling of things as physical and social presence, countering modern alienation with a "Parliament of Things" (Bruno Latour). The title "Rubber Souls" connects the flexibility of rubber—a stretchable, cartoon-like material—with the profoundly anti-modern concept of the soul. The secret subtitle of the exhibition is the cover image of the invitation, a work by Anny Wass: it depicts a plastic bottle with the inscription "Universal Solution."
The artists work with materials including rubber and plastic, as these stand like no others for the hybrid and fast-moving creatures of our time. The nature of these materials can be both virtual and physical. Their ambivalence ranges from the internet through actual industrial landscapes to the dystopian narratives that define our present. But they can also stand for self-empowerment in a culture of do-it-yourself and recycling. The title and motif of the exhibition not only reference a dialogical principle but also formulate a positive claim that at least shows the journey continues. The artists link traditional design practices with mass-compatible technologies (Photoshop, AI, 3D printing) and follow society's need to transfer original object animation into digital space. This media-driven "animization"—from Disney's "animated cartoons" through animal memes to talking unicorns—makes the internet a refuge for the useless, cultic, and mythological. This movement is more than compensatory. The so-called modern era felt superior to animism and believed it could achieve a final separation between object, subject, society, and nature. That this was not helpful at all is shown by the fact that many of our problems between environment and politics have their roots precisely in this dichotomy. Obermair and Wass, on the other hand, feel more at home in a world that can be described as a network of living and non-living actants.

Periscope

FLIEGENFÄNGER HAVING A BALL
(TURNVATER JAHN MEETS ROBERT MUSIL)
shellac, cardboard, tubes, textil, rubber ball
2021

EISENSTEIN GOAT
PLA, EVA-foam, nylon flocking, silver foil
2025

3 BOTTLES
PLA, nylon flocking, glass
2025

SPIDER AND MOUSE
PVC, glass, shellac, PLA, nylon flocking
2021

PEPE CROSSING
shellac, wood, PLA, PVC-tubes, pipe cleaner
2022

SAUSAGES
PLA, EVA-foam, nylon flocking, silver foil
2025

BRAVO!
PLA, EVA-foam, nylon flocking, silver foil
2025

RUBBER BALL
wood, EVA-foam, metal wire, EVA-foam
2024

Wolfgang Obermair Dresdner Strasse 46/10 1200 Vienna / Austria