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Discover the "Handspells. Kunsthalle Wien Prize 2021" Exhibition Featuring Vienna's Emerging Artists

This group presentation explores the performative and transformative effects of gestures in contemporary art and craft.

The "Handspells" exhibition at Kunsthalle Wien showcases the recipients of the 2021 prize. It brings together eight talented artists recently graduated from Vienna's prestigious art academies. Visitors can explore works that delve into the profound connection between gestures, everyday labor, and artistic creation, highlighting their transformative power. This presentation offers a diverse spectrum of new artistic positions.

About Handspells. Kunsthalle Wien Prize 2021 at Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna

Read curatorial context and practical visitor information for Handspells. Kunsthalle Wien Prize 2021 at Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna

Exhibition summary

This exhibition showcases the winners of the Kunsthalle Wien Prize 2021, featuring eight emerging artists who recently graduated from Vienna's art academies. The exhibition explores the concept of 'Handspells'—gestures with performative or transformative effects—examining their connection to work, craft, and creation.

Curatorial context

The exhibition "Handspells" presents the recipients of the Kunsthalle Wien Prize 2021, bringing together eight artists who graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the University of Applied Arts Vienna. This group presentation, a new format for the prize, emphasizes a wider spectrum of artistic positions over a select few. The title "Handspells" refers to gestures, whether performed by bodies or body parts, that possess performative or transformative effects on their environment and others. The presented works delve into simple, mundane, and repetitive gestures found in work, creation, and craft, exploring how these actions can achieve a form of magic, establish connections, and create relationships. The exhibition also touches upon chiromancy, interpreting inscribed gestures and habits as signs. It highlights the interplay between touch and vision, language and body, magic and labor, underscoring the creative potential of the ordinary, the transformative power of iteration, and the political implications of sharing bodily techniques.

Admission and ticket notes

Information about admission and ticketing is not explicitly detailed on this page, but visitors are directed to general museum information and a press release for further details. The exhibition is located at Kunsthalle Wien in the Museumsquartier.

Handspells. Kunsthalle Wien Prize 2021 key exhibition facts

Review exhibition status, schedule, venue context, and attribution details for Handspells. Kunsthalle Wien Prize 2021 at Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna

Venue
Kunsthalle Wien
Current status
Open now
Exhibition schedule
Information not currently available
Artist line / attribution
The exhibition features artists Diana Barbosa Gil, Cho Beom-Seok, Jojo Gronostay, Ani Gurashvili, Lukas Kaufmann, Nora Severios, Anna Spanlang (with textile sculptures by Sunny Pfalzer), and Chin Tsao. The display is by Julia Hohenwarter, and the curator is Anne Faucheret. The Kunsthalle Wien Prize is a cooperation with the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
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