Artists:
Magdalena Frey | Edgar Honetschläger | Pia Mayer | Isa Rosenberger | Mika Rottenberg | Li Wei

Truth is the invention of a liar. (Heinz von Foerster)

If you work with photography, now “officially” 170 years old, the question of reality soon becomes evident: the depiction of reality as well as the formation of one’s own reality. We see ourselves confronted with the former primarily in the realm of press photography, while the question of our own visual reality is posed particularly by artists in an increasingly decisive fashion. Does this mean that photography is facing a crisis? Is the global economy truly in a crisis? Is not the answer to such questions always a matter of our perception? My personal truth says being in a crisis means being unable to move intellectually. Progress and moving forward are what make it possible to move other things. In this 65th issue of EIKON, we present five artists who reflect the issue of reality in the most various ways, thus leading us out of the crisis, if you will.

MIKA ROTTENBERG, an Argentinean-American shooting star at the last Whitney Biennial, knows how to create bizarre visions through strange observations of people. Her intellectual claim allows concept and aesthetic to fuse in a strangely invented reality. Here we find issues like feminism, politics, and economy just as well as questions about the human character and about the body in particular. The work of MAGDALENA FREY takes this as a starting point, focusing on the feminine. Her complex collages know no taboos. She ruthlessly directs our gaze at what we are afraid of. She challenges us to look and confront our fears, not to condense them, but rather to dissolve them and to transform them into strength. Chinese performance artist LI WEI surprises with spectacular actions that question our perception to the extreme, often himself becoming a mirror of his surroundings, inviting illusion and reality to exchange places.

ISA ROSENBERGER, the current holder of the Msgr. Otto Mauer-Preis, explores situations of political transformation, especially in the countries of the former Eastern Bloc. Taking documentary as her starting point, she mixes reality and fiction when time and space are condensed in the camera and private memory breaks the official historiography. EDGAR HONETSCHLÄGER is a traveler and a revolutionary who vehemently rebels against the illusion of central perspective as the sole possible form of depicting reality. In his work—film, photography, and drawing—he discusses the variety and contradiction of a globalized world. And again the question of the (economic) crisis . . .

We are happy to present PIA MAYER in this issue’s student pages—a cooperation with Vienna’s Universität für Angewandte Kunst—as well as a new author, Lavinia Neff, who last fall was awarded the Junior Award by the Art Critic Awards. As a partner magazine of the organizer Basis Wien, we are happy to offer the young writer a forum. In her contribution, she reviews the current exhibition of ZKM, Medium Religion, a notable show in Karlsruhe that engages with faith and geopolitics in the current media.

The artist Anastasia Khoroshilova recently presented two exhibitions in Moscow, at Moscow Museum of Modern Art and Stella Art Foundation, reviewed here by our correspondent Sacha Grigorenko. The extensive, three-language catalog was published by EIKON/ÖIP.

Tickle Attack is the title of the most recent edition of the Fototriennale Tampere, which took place for the first time across borders. The Austrian site was FLUSS in Wolkersdorf, and parallel to this, EIKON invited to a podium discussion and a “tickle attack” at Museumsquartier. Read more in this issue’s Forum, where you can also learn about the first EIKON competition held during last fall’s Month of Photography, with the motto “the most dangerous camera.”

“It all start’s in Linz,” as an old Austrian saying goes, and that’s now back in fashion this year, for Linz is European Capital of Culture in 2009. As part of the opening program, one of the most important cultural initiatives of Austria was able to open its doors: Ars Electronica Center has erected a new building, with which this impressive institution now has enough space to carry out its mission.