Vienna
Completed

Discover SoiL Thornton's "Choosing Suitor" Exhibition at Secession: New Works Exploring Identity

Experience new contemporary art installations and photography challenging perceptions of systems and language in the art world.

SoiL Thornton's compelling exhibition "Choosing Suitor" at Secession invites visitors to engage with thought-provoking new works. This presentation features diverse art forms including an inflatable sculpture and intricate photography, all centered on themes of identity politics and societal structures. Explore how Thornton playfully critiques language and the conditions of the art world through their unique artistic lens.

About SoiL Thornton: Choosing Suitor at Secession in Vienna

Read curatorial context and practical visitor information for SoiL Thornton: Choosing Suitor at Secession in Vienna

Exhibition summary

This exhibition at Secession features new works by SoiL Thornton, exploring identity politics, systems, and the art world's conditions. The show includes a large inflatable sculpture, photography, and various objects that playfully engage with language and meaning.

Curatorial context

SoiL Thornton's exhibition 'Choosing Suitor' at Secession delves into the artist's engagement with identity politics, social systems, and the art world's inherent structures. Thornton, who identifies as non-binary and works across painting, sculpture, photography, and installation, uses these systems as neutral tools for artistic decisions, allowing them to recede behind the structural setting. The exhibition is marked by a prominent inflatable sculpture titled 'Husband Chair (SV),' which intentionally obstructs the main entrance, forcing an alternative entry and prompting reflection on perspective shifts and institutional accessibility. The presentation includes various new works, such as photo prints and series, site-specific interventions like mirrored construction barriers, and objects featuring playful linguistic elements. A notable series of Tinder profiles, presented against abstract color fields, challenges the cultivation of persona common on social media. "Name that Grisaille" features handwritten names on painted sheets, questioning the derivation of identity from names and the commercialization of signatures. Thornton critiques "heteronormative normality" through conventional associations of names and colors, proposing a vibrant neon green as a neutral alternative, reminiscent of "Green Screens" used for background substitution. Accompanying the exhibition is a digital publication and an Instagram account that draws analogies between Tinder and the art world as "marketplaces of attention."

Admission and ticket notes

Visitors can purchase tickets via the provided link to Eventjet or through general museum admission. The exhibition is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 10 AM to 6 PM.

SoiL Thornton: Choosing Suitor key exhibition facts

Review exhibition status, schedule, venue context, and attribution details for SoiL Thornton: Choosing Suitor at Secession in Vienna

Venue
Secession
Current status
Completed
Exhibition schedule
Sep 15, 2023 – Nov 12, 2023
Artist line / attribution
SoiL Thornton, born in the USA in 1990, is a non-binary artist living and working in Brooklyn, New York. Their practice spans painting, sculpture, photography, and installation, and they also curate exhibitions.
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