«on/» is the title of the new exhibition, by the Austrian artist Judith Fegerl, presented at the Kunstraum Dornbirn art gallery from February 25 to June 18. The exhibition is steeped in history, as it uses the old assembly hall of the Rüsch Works built in 1893, where turbines for the first hydroelectric power plants were manufactured.
 
Judith Fegerl explores the possibilities of electrical energy as an artistic material in a techno-poetic way.

The exhibition intertwines the past and present of the building, its history, and its function, being used by Fegerl as a basis to answer a series of questions: How does the art and exhibition industry work? What infrastructure exists? Does this infrastructure meet the minimum requirements? How fragile, vulnerable, and efficient is it? How does the weather, the position of the sun, or the darkness affect the exhibited works and their perceptibility?

The proposal of her specific art is a particularly pertinent metaphor in this context, where turbines were built to generate electricity. Fegerl's work proposes a work that depends on energy, which in this case is not obtained from the traditional network sockets, but is captured by a 40 m² photovoltaic system, prepared for the exhibition, in the Municipal Gardens of Dornbirn.
With her work, Judith Fegerl stages the dramatic relationship between space and time. New times, new sources of energy that if they disappear everything fall apart. The same happens with the individual components of Judith Fegerl's work, which would simply fall if there is no power supply (the installation has safety cables). The instability of the construction is dramatized by the inclination of the solid steel tubes generating a perceptible tension, which reveals the state of tension of dependency and need for energy.

Elements such as the inverter, battery storage, and distribution box are mounted unstable, staging the power lines. The work is completed with five tubes, used as steel steles, slightly inclined with a diameter of about 30 centimeters and a height of three meters. Each "stela" is divided into two unequal sections that are connected by a copper-colored element. The position and orientation of the stelae are based on the five historical jib cranes, to which the stelae were connected by a steel cable.

Inside the exhibition space, Judith Fegerl leaves a door open that allows a view of the back of the solar installation.


“on/” by Judith Fegerl. Photograph by Günter Richard Wett.

Judith Fegerl combines elements from her past exhibition dubbed "moment", her artwork coming full circle by demonstrating the existential dependency of work and energy in a specific and almost techno-poetic way. It deals with the temporary connection of the steel elements and the contrast with the massive materiality with fragile arrangements. The integral concept of contemporaneity is addressed, and this connects the inherent processes of the art system and the challenges that arise with social reality.
 
“You can't see it, you can't hear it, and to a certain extent you can't feel it either. Nevertheless, electrical energy is the basis of our modern, technologized life: progress and development, utility and luxury, but also conflicts over distribution, provision and, above all, environmental issues – energy is highly political stuff."
Judith Fegerl


“on/” by Judith Fegerl. Photograph by Günter Richard Wett.

Her artistic work stems from the Austrian artist's fascination for the transforming processes of forces and materials based on time that open up an experimental space. Linking an aesthetic of the functional with the autonomy of art makes a contribution to current debates on exhibition practices and their responsibilities and possibilities, but it is also a comment on a general social attitude in our increasingly complex present.

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Architects
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Curators
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Thomas Häusle, Direktor Kunstraum Dornbirn.
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Dates
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February 24 - June 18, 2023.
10am - 6pm, Monday to Sunday.
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Location
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Kunstraum Dornbirn. Jahngasse 9, 6850 Dornbirn, Austria.
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Photography
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Judith Fegerl is an artist of Austrian origin who was born in 1977 in Vienna, the city where she lives and does her artistic work. She graduated from the Visual Media Design and Digital Art program at the Vienna University of Applied Arts (diploma 2004). At the same time, she also studied Art and New Media at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts with Peter Kogler and Birgit Jürgenssen (diploma 2006). Fegerl accumulates numerous exhibitions throughout her career, she began in 2009 with the exhibition "Simulating Intelligence" and she has followed her trajectory presenting exhibitions in countries such as Russia, Germany, France, Romania and Switzerland. She has won numerous awards such as the City of Vienna Media Art Prize and was recently awarded the Dagmar Chobot Sculpture Prize 2022.

 
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