Beauty Case
Preserving the beauty that we create
Where is beauty at home? From 31 August to 31 October 2019 it can be found at the Hofburg in Brixen/Bressanone. Nine young artists will be transforming the Hofburg into an actual BEAUTY CASE where, in dialogue with the treasures held in the permanent collection, new creations from the contemporary South Tyrolean art scene can be seen in the changing exhibition spaces. Conceived in ateliers in Brixen/Bressanone, Bozen/Bolzano, Meran/Merano, Innsbruck, Vienna, Leipzig, Lausanne, the Hague and New York, the spatial installations, photos, sculptures, sound tracks and paintings all ask questions about the place of beauty in the present day. What is the relationship between beauty and preservation? In museums, in nature, in our society?
This special exhibition, staged by the Südtiroler Künstlerbund (South Tyrolean Artists Association) and the Hofburg Brixen together with the Brixner Initiative Music und Kirche and the De Pace Fidei Institute, addresses contemporary manifestations of beauty, their vulnerability and the coverings that protect them. “Beauty is a transient thing! It manifests itself in the moment, then disappears once more. In a social environment marked by prettified permanent presence and clean excess transparency, its position is precarious”, as the two exhibition curators – Michael Rainer from Vienna and Thomas Rainer from Munich, explain. Lisa Trockner, Executive Director of the Südtiroler Künstlerbund and Peter Schwienbacher, Director of the Hofburg, who are together responsible for the organisational framework of this demanding project, are unanimous: “Clear the way in museums for the art of the present!”.
South Tyrol is an ideal breeding ground for contemporary art. The works of the nine artists all show an assured touch – radically conceived, perfectly executed and brilliantly staged. Smells, sounds, and visual impressions all combine to produce a compelling exhibition. The two current holders of the major awards for contemporary art in Tyrol, Kalter König, winner of the Paul Flora Prize, and Karin Ferrari, winner of the RLB Art Prize, deliver us from our super-naked present: using (plastic) art materials and a muscle suit, they create two impressive installations that stand equally for both the buzz and the vulnerability of beauty.
Petra Polli turns a 19th-century monastery work into a painted climbing plant that overgrows the entire room. Contemplating the broken facets of an 18th-century Venetian mirror, AliPaloma and Jasmine Deporta question the current body image and its associated aesthetic metaphors of surface and superficiality. Linda Jasmin Mayer lets textile coverings dance through the space, enveloping us with their scent of beeswax. The installation creates a striking symbol for the simultaneous presence and absence of beauty. The 1,000 fragile eggshells by Maria Walcher are probably the most incisive statement calling for our cautious handling of the endangered asset that is beauty.
Conserve – Converse. Conversing as a prerequisite for Conserving. Nowhere does a museum come as close to itself as in a reflection upon the importance of memory for conservation. The ten-hour soundtrack by Manuela Kerer makes us think about the trauma of forgetting and the desire to remember, while Nicolò Degiorgis causes the remembrance photos of the dead to merge with the texture, drawn by nature, of their memorial stones.
BEAUTY CASE can be admired at the Hofburg Brixen/Bressanone until 31 October. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue in the form of a beauty case, available from the Hofburg ticket office. There is also an accompanying programme. During the month of creation (1.09.2019 – 4.10.2019) a symposium, entitled Liebevolle Schöpfung [Affectionate Creation], will be held from 11.10.2019 to 13.10.2019 in Brixen/Bressanone by the Brixner Initiative Musik und Kirche and the De Pace Fidei Institute.
Exhibition
BEAUTY CASE
Preserving the beauty that we create
Hofburg Brixen | Bressanone
31.08.2019 to 31.10.2019
Opening hours:
31 august - 30 september 2019 daily 10 am - 6.30 pm
1 - 31 october 2019 tuesday - sunday 10 am - 5 pm
Exhibition staged in cooperation with
Hofburg Brixen | Bressanone
South Tyrolean Artists Association
Brixner Initiative Musik und Kirche
De Pace Fidei Institute
Exhibition curators
Michael Rainer | Thomas Rainer
Artists
AliPaloma | Nicolò Degiorgis | Jasmine Deporta | Karin Ferrari | Manuela Kerer | Kalter König | Linda Jasmin Mayer | Petra Polli | Maria Walcher
Presse contact:
Südtiroler Künstlerbund
0039 0471 977037
info@kuenstlerbund.org
Fotos: Martin Geier, Jürgen Eheim, Hofburg Brixen, SKB
