SALZBURG.- 20 Propositions is a series of 20 exhibitions, events, performances and screenings taking place over the summertime in the
Salzburger Kunstverein. Each project phase has its own opening event. The Sunset Kino, Austria’s only outdoor avant-garde cinema, includes seven screenings of contemporary video and film.
Curated by Séamus Kealy, 20 Propositions is produced in homage to the exhibition “40 Days 20 Exhibitions,” held 20 years ago in the Salzburger Kunstverein, and curated by the director then, Hildegund Amanshauser. This new version takes a different format but arises out a spirit of flux and engagement as the earlier exhibition had. 20 Propositions is also in collaboration with the Salzburg International Summer Academy, which Hildegund Amanshauser currently directs. 20 Propositions includes solo presentations, screenings and performances by local, national and international artists, including four Summer Academy artists, and guestcurated screenings.
The Central Proposition
In order to survive, and to adjust to the speed of change and political shifts around us, we must propose and form new models of thinking, living and believing. 20 Propositions, as several parts to one whole, is considered as an unfinished series of experiments, speculations and encounters strung together. Notions of the temporary and the ephemeral are prioritised in this collaborative project. At its root 20 Propositions questions notions of producing, staging and mounting exhibitions. What binds everything together is a sense of incompletion, where processes of production are deliberately paused or thwarted. The project as a whole places emphasis on a promethean model of art production as actively coming to being. Everything comes out of a greater nothingness, and is thus again spirited away.
Artists:
Exhibitions 1. Jakob Kolding (DK/DE) 2. Christiane Peschek (AT) 3. Emeka Okereke (NG) 4. Maria Legat (AT) 5. Nikola Röthemeyer & Annika Sailer (DE) 6. Carl Johan Högberg (SE/NL) 7. Ulrike Königshofer (AT) 8. Iva Lulashi (AL/IT) 9. Mark Van Yetter (US) 10. Mehraneh Atashi (IR/NL) 11. Markus Wilfling (AT)
Screenings 12. Oisin Byrne & Gary Farrelly (IE) 13. Manu Luksch (AT), Co-Regisseure: Martin Reinhart (AT), Thomas Tode (DE) 14. Bjørn Melhus (DE) 15. Jan Bonny & Alex Wissel (DE) 16. Michael Snow (CA) 17. Bady Minck (LU/AT) 18. Fabrizio Terranova (BE)
Performances & Talks 19. Sam Keogh (IE) 20. Ei Arakawa (JP/US) with Christian Naujoks (DE) & Class
Sunset Kino 20 July – 29 August 2018
Sunset Kino is a programme of film screenings in the outdoor cinema pavilion adjacent to the Salzburger Kunstverein. The focus is on contemporary art and avant-garde cinema. The programme is curated by Séamus Kealy, Erika Hock and Vanina Saracino, who curates the series “Earthly Mutations”. Introduced by the curator or director, screenings are about 90 minutes. Picnic tables and a bar are on-site. People can bring or acquire food from Café Cult. Free entry.
A Brief History of the Salzburger Kunstverein
The Salzburger Kunstverein was founded in 1844 by Prince-Archbishop Friedrich Schwarzenberg, along with artists and Salzburg art lovers. It was one of the first such institutions in Austria. In 1885 the “Künstlerhaus” was built by and for the Salzburger Kunstverein to house studios and an exhibition area. Today it is Salzburg’s only remaining building from the 1880s. The role of the Salzburger Kunstverein had been to promote and sell contemporary fine art from the territories of the monarchy and neighboring foreign countries. Like other sister institutions, the Salzburger Kunstverein was therefore a forerunner model of private galleries.
The 150 year history of the Kunstverein is characterized by many shifts in cultural and socio-political influences. Since the 1990s, the Salzburger Kunstverein has introduced and consistently followed an international program in keeping with the intentions of the founders and has long been a public institution. Since January 2014, the Director has been Irish-Canadian Séamus Kealy.
Solo exhibitions at the Salzburger Kunstverein have included notable and international artists including Lucy Skaer, Geoffrey Farmer & Gareth Moore, Stan Douglas, Nevin Aladağ, Emily Wardill, Hans Schabus, Nedko Solakov, Dan Perjovschi, Vanessa Beecroft, Luc Tuymans, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Monica Bonvicini, Liam Gillick, Elizabeth Peyton, Marjetica Potrc, Cameron Jamie, Gülsün Karamustafa, Ilya & Emilia Kabakov, Roman Ondak, Anna Jermolaewa, Agnieszka Polska, and many more. Group and thematic exhibitions feature regularly in the program, such as “Überschönheit” (Excessive Beauty) and the award-winning exhibitions “Punctum” and “The People’s Cinema,” all curated by Séamus Kealy.
Séamus Kealy is the current Director of the Salzburger Kunstverein. From 2008 to 2013, he was Director of The Model, Sligo, Ireland, which he took through a major redevelopment. From 2005 to 2008, he was Curator of the Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto at Mississauga. From 1996 to 2005, Séamus practiced as an artist with a concentration in painting and photography. He studied Fine Arts (BFA), including photography under Jeff Wall, and later Art History: Curatorial Studies (MA) at the University of British Columbia.
Kealy has held artist and curatorial residencies in Canada, Chile, Ireland, Austria, and France. He has lectured at universities world-wide and is also a regular Visiting Lecturer for the Higher Institute for Visual Arts in Ghent, Belgium. Awards and acknowledgements include the Curatorial Writing Award in 2007 by the Ontario Association of Art Galleries and Museums, „Top Exhibition in Austria in 2014“ (Punctum), and „Number Four Exhibition in Austria in 2016,“ (The People’s Cinema); both by Profil Magazin. He writes regularly on contemporary art and has a background in activism, including working for Greenpeace. He holds Irish and Canadian citizenships. He is the 2018 International Juror for Canada’s Sobey Art Award.
