March 10 – April 26, 2018
response ABILITY, rotor, Graz, AT

Participating artists: Stefano Romano/DZT, Dante Buu, Veronika Eberhart, Nina Valerie Kolowratnik, Marko Kosović, Wolfgang Obermair,  Danilo Prnjat, Gregor Schlatte, Deniz Sözen, tadi, Inge Vavra, Velimir Zernovski

Curated by: Margarethe Makovec, Anton Lederer, Anna Kohlhauser

From 2015 to 2016, the artist-in-residence programme “West Balkan Calling” took place in Belgrade, Cetinje, Podgorica, Sarajevo, Skopje and Tirana as well as in Graz, Klagenfurt, Krems, Linz and Vienna. A total of 12 artists visited the cities mentioned above for a residency. During this time, they realised works of art and/or were inspired to create new works, which will be presented in the exhibition “responseABILITY”. In parallel to this, a 12-part poster series will be published.

The observations and individual experiences made within the guest artists‘ residencies form the starting point of the exhibition. They could check their expectations, compare them with their impressions on site and put them into relation to their own living environments. Moreover, the mutual exchange opened up the possibility to compare perceptions of the different cultural spaces.

West Balkan Calling is a project by Center for Contamporary Art Graz & Directorate General for Cultural Policy of the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs

In cooperation with: AIR–artist in residence Krems, Art Research Center 42° Cetinje, Atelierhaus Salzamt Linz, Cultural City Network Graz, Kontekst Collective / Zadruga Oktobar Belgrad, Kunsthalle Exnergasse Wien, lend|hauer Klagenfurt, press to exit project space Skopje, Public ROOM Sarajevo, Stacion – Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina, T.I.C.A. – Tirana Institute of Contemporary Ar

In the frame of the Galerientage – aktuelle kunst in Graz 2018.

rotor

SYRINX UND PAN (СИРИНКС И ПАН),
Installation in three parts
Aluminium, wood nylon, fleece, HD-video
(loop), 2018

The natural history museum in Skopje is located directly on the grounds of the zoo. While looking at the showcases, you can hear the animals from outside. If you walk through the zoo, you come to a parrot enclosure that is directly opposite the sheep and goat enclosure. If you linger long enough, you can hear the parrots imitating the goats. Animals communicate with their neighbors, the neighbors with the dead. All animals, whether living or dead, are trapped not only in their role as exhibition objects but also purely physically in cages and display cases. They are institutionally bound beyond their subjective existence. The scenario describes a necropolis that connects waiting for the end with eternity.

Wolfgang Obermair Dresdner Strasse 46/10 1200 Vienna / Austria