Fame/Fake/Fail and Fear – Schwarze Melange

With works by Christian Bazant-Hegemark, Konrad Kager/ Baptiste el Baz, Paul Poet, Sissa Micheli, Eleni Kampuridis, Martina Montecuccoli, Kamen Stoyanov, Gabriele Sturm, Center for Political Beauty

Curated by Eleni Kampuridis
Theoretical support by Roland Schöny

The artists participating in the exhibition investigate, document, expose, and analyse the effects of language and image as a foundation of fine arts and PR based on the example of the 2017 Austrian election campaigns. Thanks to an ingenious PR strategy, then-chancellor candidate Sebastian Kurz could create a mood swing without any political urgency. In 2000 Christoph Schlingensief caused a stir in the framework of the Wiener Festwochen with his container action »Bitte liebt Österreich (Please Love Austria)«. A perfect staging of image and language can unleash emotions, which can be utilised either for political, marketing strategy, or artistic purposes. Hence, this exhibition is also a call to critically question information, to verify its substance, and to apply marketing tools with an apparent positive image effect more consciously—also in the field of fine arts.

Accompanying film programme
Location: Cinema of Fotogalerie Wien, WUK

Fr 26.04.2019, 7.00 pm
AUSLÄNDER RAUS! SCHLINGENSIEFS CONTAINER (2002), Paul Poet, 90 min
EMPIRE ME  – DER STAAT BIN ICH!(2011), Paul Poet, 100 min

Fr 10.05.2019, 7.00 pm
MY TALK  WITH FLORENCE (2015), Paul Poet, 128 min
Havalimani-New Istanbul Dream(2017), Kamen Stoyanov, 27 min 
and Q&A

Supported by: Austrian Student's Union, culture connected (culture connected is conducted by BMBWF and accompanied by KulturKontakt Austria), hufak - Student's Union of the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Cultural department of the city of Vienna (MA7), Kultur- und Wissenschaftskommission der Bezirksvertretung Alsergrund