VIENNA, AUSTRIA.- The Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation Vienna in the MuseumsQuartier presents "Kara Walker - Deutsche Bank Collection," on view through February 16, 2003. Kara Walker - Deutsche Bank Collection is a large show on display at the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien (MUMOK Factory) from 6 December 2002 to 16 February 2003, devoted to Kara Walker, an artist born in 1969 in California. The Deutsche Bank Collection, which is comprised of 55 works and has the multi-part work "The Emancipation Approximation" of 1999/2000 as its centerpiece, is complemented by a few loans from other collections such as the Dakis Collection. This traveling show has been enabled by the Deutsche Bank’s art department and its offices in Vienna. After Mannheim, Berlin, and Arnheim, it is now shown in Vienna, thus completing its tour.

 

Kara Walker, who rose to international fame within just a few years, is interested in how racism and sexism are perpetuated, and she takes a critical view at these phenomena in large silhouette cutouts, but also in smaller collages, photographs, and drawings. In Vienna she gained popularity by her large silhouette cutout for the State Opera’s safety curtain (1998/99), some preliminary designs and sketches of which are on display in the show. In this cutout she uses individual figures reminiscent of fairy tales to scrutinize both the unintentional and uncanny features of Germanic culture which she witnessed as an Afro-American woman in Vienna. In her art Kara Walker denounces social hardship, particularly as experienced in the course of history by black people in the American south. She employs the silhouette technique as a means to create a concise narrative, to shed light on clichés and stereotypes, and to raise awareness of latent racism. Says the artist: "I am anxious to hear unintentional insults as well as racist and snide remarks."

VIENNA, AUSTRIA.- The Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation Vienna in the MuseumsQuartier presents "Kara Walker - Deutsche Bank Collection," on view through February 16, 2003. Kara Walker - Deutsche Bank Collection is a large show on display at the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien (MUMOK Factory) from 6 December 2002 to 16 February 2003, devoted to Kara Walker, an artist born in 1969 in California. The Deutsche Bank Collection, which is comprised of 55 works and has the multi-part work "The Emancipation Approximation" of 1999/2000 as its centerpiece, is complemented by a few loans from other collections such as the Dakis Collection. This traveling show has been enabled by the Deutsche Bank’s art department and its offices in Vienna. After Mannheim, Berlin, and Arnheim, it is now shown in Vienna, thus completing its tour.

 

Kara Walker, who rose to international fame within just a few years, is interested in how racism and sexism are perpetuated, and she takes a critical view at these phenomena in large silhouette cutouts, but also in smaller collages, photographs, and drawings. In Vienna she gained popularity by her large silhouette cutout for the State Opera’s safety curtain (1998/99), some preliminary designs and sketches of which are on display in the show. In this cutout she uses individual figures reminiscent of fairy tales to scrutinize both the unintentional and uncanny features of Germanic culture which she witnessed as an Afro-American woman in Vienna. In her art Kara Walker denounces social hardship, particularly as experienced in the course of history by black people in the American south. She employs the silhouette technique as a means to create a concise narrative, to shed light on clichés and stereotypes, and to raise awareness of latent racism. Says the artist: "I am anxious to hear unintentional insults as well as racist and snide remarks."