VIENNA.- At a time when facts are constantly being bent, remixed and repackaged for attention, Kunstraum Niederoesterreich has opened Attitude Era, a group exhibition that looks at how reality and fiction collide in the age of deepfakes, online disinformation, populist spectacle and algorithm-driven culture.
On view from June 3 to July 27, 2026, the exhibition brings together works by Alice Bucknell, Chun, Zuzanna Czebatul, Andrea Ferrero, Kiki Furlan, Ndayé Kouagou and Toxic Thekla. It is co-curated by Frederike Sperling and Pia Wamsler.
The show takes its title from the world of professional wrestling, where the line between performance and reality is deliberately unstable. In wrestling, audiences know that much of what they see is staged, but they still respond emotionally as if it were real. Attitude Era uses that tension as a way to think about contemporary politics and digital life, where spectacle often matters more than truth, and where online systems reward whatever provokes the strongest reaction.
The exhibition asks a timely question: Is reality now a matter of attitude? Its premise is that the same logic that animates the wrestling ring also shapes the digital public sphere. In online feeds, facts, rumors, fake news, memes and “alternative facts” compete for visibility. What matters is not necessarily whether something is true, but whether it is engaging enough to circulate.
For the curators, this uncertain territory is not only dangerous; it can also be a space for artistic resistance. Sperling and Wamsler describe the exhibition as a search for moments in which doubt, fragility and humor can become tools for understanding the present. Rather than offering a straightforward critique, the artists in Attitude Era approach constructed realities through video, sculpture, textile, installation, performance and painting.
Alice Bucknell’s immersive video installation Zonomata imagines a dystopian future in 2036, after a meteorite impact has devastated the Earth. In this speculative world, star architects propose disaster-proof private cities for the wealthy: smart, resilient and free from taxes or democracy. Developed with the help of a chatbot trained on data from the architecture studio MVRDV, the work turns architecture into a chilling fantasy of survival for the privileged.
Chun’s textile work Dobbergun plunges viewers into a chaotic landscape of memes, gaming imagery, war references and cartoon violence. Airplanes, firearms, plush figures and absurd characters collide in a visual overload that mirrors the logic of disinformation: when too much noise floods the field, meaning itself begins to collapse.
Zuzanna Czebatul’s contribution takes the form of a giant inflatable ecstasy pill suspended in the exhibition space. Titled Macromolecule Exploiting Some Biological Target IV (Reality/Embargo), the work rotates slowly, carrying the words “Reality” and “Embargo.” The piece turns the drug into an emblem of a post-digital culture intoxicated by data, stimulation and alternate realities.
Andrea Ferrero’s site-specific work It portends something awful for us looks to Vienna’s own architectural history. The artist has recreated three gargoyles from the façade of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, but with a twist: these sinister medieval figures are made not of stone, but of chocolate. Their sweet smell undercuts their threatening appearance, turning sacred fear into a strange blend of consumption, spectacle and unease.
Kiki Furlan brings a softer but equally uncanny atmosphere to the show with plush train tracks and an oversized toy locomotive. Her works Railway works and Choochoo evoke childhood play, coin-operated rides and toy trains, while also pointing to the way cute symbols and nostalgic images have become part of everyday digital communication.
In Ndayé Kouagou’s video A to Z, the artist asks, “Who told us that Z is the goal?” The work moves between critique and advertising, self-reflection and performance. With polished visuals and a style that recalls promotional media, Kouagou leaves viewers unsure whether they are watching a sincere philosophical question, a branding exercise or both at once.
The exhibition’s wrestling theme comes most directly into focus in Toxic Thekla’s painting The Ring. Thekla Kaischauri, known professionally as Toxic Thekla, is both an artist and a professional wrestler. Her painting captures the glare of the spotlight, the drama of the red carpet and the charged space of the ring, where fiction becomes real through performance and belief.
The accompanying program extends the exhibition’s themes through workshops, guided tours and public events. Highlights include guided tours with wrestling drag king Eric BigClit and political educator Stefanie Fridrik, a public tour with co-curator Pia Wamsler, and a workshop titled Computed Reality with Brooklyn Pakathi and freakygreenfish. The program also includes school workshops and a feminist wrestling workshop for closed groups.
Attitude Era is open Tuesday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free.
