This exhibition features the work of Judith Hopf, exploring themes of politics, art, and theory through performances, videos, sculptures, and graphic works. The exhibition delves into the uncanny nature of situations where the unexpected disrupts ordered systems, focusing on the interplay of expectation and knowledge.
Judith Hopf's artistic practice is characterized by her engagement with stories and aesthetics from everyday culture, employing mediums such as performance, video, sculpture, and graphic works. Her work consistently investigates the dynamic relationship between politics, art, and theory, often incorporating elements of self-staging and a vibrant, pop-poetic sensibility. Many of her projects are developed collaboratively with fellow artists and theorists, stemming from critical observations of daily life and a sense of sociopolitical unease. The exhibition at Secession showcases recent co-productions, including the video "Hospital Bone Dance" (2006), which explores the tension between a controlled environment and mysterious events. Hopf's work often directs viewers' attention without imposing strict directives, fostering critical awareness of socially propagated unifications and questioning their necessity by transforming them into alternative perspectives. She highlights how everyday observations are interwoven with social and political power structures, making them visible and challenging the "tyranny of the same" and the "unfinished" that can render certain life forms invisible or marginalized.