Full outdoor shot of a small fire burning in the ground. The fire is of a simple wooden frame, a scaffold burning. Flames are rising from the fire, and the smoke is visible. The ground is a dark brown/grey dirt. A pile of dried leaves and organic matter surrounds the fire. A brick wall is behind the fire pit, in a light tan/beige color. The text "malda už Lauryn" is visible at the top of the image, and "a prayer for Lauryn" is written at the bottom. The overall impression is of a melancholic or ritualistic scene, lit by the firelight. The colors are muted and the style evocative of vintage or an older kind of photography.
Time

16.1. - 22.2.2025

Place

Kunsthalle Exnergasse

(c) RA Walden, Structures of Care (Scaffold for Lauryn)
ArtAusstellungEröffnungInstallation
Kunsthalle Exnergasse

Care Webs and Cuddles

Artists / collaborators: Artur Belja, Eva Egermann & Cordula Thym, Tanja Erhart, Leno Gasser, Raisa Kabir, Iris Kopera, Nkeny Bakilam Nsangong, Paul Prothesis, Lotti Seebeck, Marin Shamov, Julischka Stengele, Miriam S. Surányi | máyiPower Makes us Sick, Trans Mutual Care Network, Verein für Barrierefreiheit in der Kunst, im Alltag, im Denken, RA Walden

Curated by Ema Benčíková
kültüř gemma! Fellowship

Care is what we all need. Care and rest. The past years have been disastrous for marginalised people. I feel the pain of my trans, disabled, BIPOC friends. Facing abandonment by the state institutions, it is crucial to question our current support structures. Care webs as a concept emerging from the disability justice movement and formulated by the crip artist and activist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha returns to care with tenderness, accountability, and solidarity.

Queer people need cuddles. Crip people need cuddles. All othered people need cuddles. If they want them. I imagine a world where we can distribute cuddles and care more evenly, more fairly, more lovingly. I hope that the exhibition Care Webs and Cuddles can archive and generate structures of support for people that need them. So that we can heal and create, share knowledge and take shelter from the rapidly descending outside world.

How do we learn from the fragility of our experience?

Ema Benčíková explores the critical phenomenology of trans and crip embodiment, mutual aid initiatives, and performativity of disability, through the lens of gender studies and queer theory. Her theater work is focused on community building and empowering marginalized people. 

In cooperation with kültüř gemma!, supported by Bezirksvertretung Alsergrund

That's how you get here!

Public Transport
subway U6, bus 40A - station Währinger Straße/Volksoper
trams 5, 33, 40, 41, 42 - station Spitalgasse

Arrival by car
There are a number of public car parks around WUK. Parking tickets are required.

Disabled parking
A disabled parking space is located behind the WUK at Wilhelm-Exner-Gasse 5.

Barrier-free access to Kunsthalle Exnergasse via Währinger Straße 59 through the passageway into the courtyard, left to lift B, 1st floor, direct entrance via the automated glass door on the right into Kunsthalle Exnergasse.

Non-barrier-free access via Währinger Straße into the courtyard, left to entrance B, stairs to the 1st floor (B 1 for short). 

Barrier-free WC available

Please note: The WUK courtyard is paved with cobblestones. The path from the Währinger Straße entrance area to the information office is not paved.

There is a tactile guidance system for blind and visually impaired people only from the courtyard gate at the Währinger Straße entrance to the WUK information office.

Wheelchair users are kindly requested to register at: kunsthalle.exnergasse@wuk.at

TO THE INFORMATIONOFFICE

If you have any additions that are also suitable for other wheelchair users or people with impaired mobility, please let us know at kunsthalle.exnergasse@wuk.at

 

 

Read article

queer and crip as an act of resistance

Interview with Ema Benčíková about the exhibition "Care Webs and Cuddles" at Kunsthalle Exnergasse

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Der KUNSTHALLE EXNERGASSE Newsletter informiert im Schnitt zweimal monatlich über das aktuelle Ausstellungs- und Veranstaltungsprogramm in Kunsthalle Exnergasse und KEX Studio.