Kunsthalle Wien

Museumsquartier #PeterFriedl 22/3 – 9/6 2019 Peter Friedl’s practice eludes unequivocal houses represent living environments media- and style-specific attributions. as diverse reflections on history, politics, A recurring element in his oeuvre is a highly biographies and ideologies; as “case studies specific mode of approach. Rather than for a kind of mental geography relating to an showing dedication to particular topics alternative strain of modernity” (Friedl). or stylistic principles, Friedl’s works, which On occasion of the exhibition in Vienna, often touch on politically charged issues two new models were created: Winnie and follow an aesthetic strategy of “radical Nelson Mandela’s former home in Soweto, neutrality”, as art historian Hilde Van Gelder South Africa (8115 Vilakazi Street), which puts it. Instead of arguing for a certain has since been transformed into a museum, reading or interpretation of a cultural or and one of the container-like prefabricated political artefact, Friedl explores the social houses that made up Amona – the Israeli and media-specific conditions under outpost in Palestinian territories on the West which these readings, interpretations, and Bank, which was cleared in 2017. meanings become established. In this sense, Besides current productions, Teatro his works are not so much theses but rather also features older works such as exemplary models for the renegotiation of Dummy (1997), a video work first shown political and historical certainties. at documenta X, or the long-term project The exhibition Teatro at Kunsthalle Wien Theory of Justice (1992–2010). Both focus focuses on a series of recurring themes in on the problematisation of fictions of justice Friedl’s oeuvre: model, language, history, employing different formal strategies. In translation, theatricality. correspondence with more recent works, The centrepiece is the film installation they not only provide insights into thematic Report (2016), which was first presented at as well as formal continuities and changes documenta 14 (2017). Based on Kafka’s in Friedl’s oeuvre, but also gain new, often short story “A Report to an Academy”, daunting relevance in view of current Friedl develops a complex and struggles for distribution and recognition. cinematographically opulent reflection on the interplay between identity and language, Peter Friedl (b. 1960 in Austria) is an as well as assimilation and autonomy, artist based in Berlin. His work has been by addressing the self-representational exhibited internationally, including at Museo musings of the protagonist ape named Red Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Peter and his integration into human society. Madrid; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Walker Art The cast comprises more than twenty actors Center, Minneapolis; Van Abbemuseum, who recite excerpts from Kafka’s text, either Eindhoven; and Hamburger Kunsthalle. in their respective first languages or in He has participated in documenta X, 12, and languages of their choosing (Arabic, Dari, 14 (1997, 2007, 2017); the 48th and 56th Venice English, French, Greek, Kurdish, Russian, Biennale (1999, 2015); the 3rd Berlin Biennial and Kiswahili). Only the original language, for Contemporary Art (2004); Manifesta 7, Kafka’s Prague German, is missing. The Trento (2008); the 7th Gwangju Biennale empty stage of the National Theatre of (2008); the 28th Bienal de São Paulo (2008); Greece in Athens is the setting. La Triennale, Paris (2012); the Taipei Biennial Works such as The Dramatist (Black (2012, 2016); the 10th Shanghai Biennale Hamlet, Crazy Henry, Giulia, Toussaint) (2014); the 5th Thessaloniki Biennale (2013) and Teatro Popular (2016–17) recall (2015); and the 1st Anren Biennale (2017). the topos of theatricality, but concentrate He currently participates in Sharjah Biennial on the concept of the model. Drawing on 14. Selected solo exhibitions include OUT OF traditional forms of puppet theatre, both THE SHADOWS, Witte de With, Center for The Dramatist and Teatro Popular may be Contemporary Art, Rotterdam (2004); Work read as model arrangements for potential 1964–2006, Museu d’Art Contemporani counter-narratives to modernity. de Barcelona; Miami Art Central; Musée This links them to Rehousing, a project d’art contemporain; Marseille (2006–07); Friedl started in 2012, which features a Blow Job, Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerp series of true-to-scale architectural models (2008); Working, Kunsthalle Basel (2008);

Cover: Report, 2016, video still, courtesy of the artist; Gallery Erna Hécey, Luxembourg; Guido Costa Projects, Turin; of historical structures, in some cases Peter Friedl, Sala Rekalde, Bilbao (2010); and Nicolas Krupp Galerie, Basel destroyed or never realised. The chosen The Dramatist, Artspace, Auckland, (2014);

1 The Diaries, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz romanticism and paternalism; on how to (2016), and Teatro Popular, Cité, respond to the expectations placed on art to (2017). successfully intervene in the social sphere without being indifferent towards social Curators concerns. The artist as the film’s protagonist Anne Faucheret, Vanessa Joan Müller is faced with the dilemma that the appara- tus containing his money won’t deliver the The exhibition will be on view at the Carré desired goods, thus causing him to shirk d’Art, Musée d’art contemporain de Nîmes his supposed responsibility towards the from 25/10 2019 – 1/3 2020. other person. The short film shows a chain reaction triggered by the cussedness of the inanimate Dummy, 1997 object, a process that seems, but is not, Video, colour, sound, 0:32 min., loop mechanistic. This perplexing ambivalence, Edition of 3 also frustrating to behold, exemplifies Collection Museu d’Art Contemporani de the conflict zone between art and its Barcelona (MACBA), Barcelona assigned functions, between reality and both Collection Video-Forum, Neuer Berliner its aesthetic and analytical representation Kunstverein, Berlin – a topic which Peter Friedl continued to explore in later works. He has repeatedly Produced for documenta X, Dummy was described Liberty City (2007) as Dummy’s Dummy, 1997, installation view documenta X, Kassel, 1997, courtesy of the artist; Guido Costa Projects, Turin; filmed in a pedestrian underpass in Kassel. “dark twin”. Both works comment on crises Gallery Erna Hécey, Luxembourg; Nicolas Krupp Galerie, Basel; photo: Dieter Schwerdtle A young man – the artist himself – walks that are not only urban crises. down a flight of stairs, heads towards a cigarette machine, inserts money, but the machine refuses to comply. The man shakes Peter Friedl, 1998 the apparatus, finally kicks it, and walks Garments, mixed media away frustrated. When a junkie asks him Dimensions variable for money, he shoves him away and in turn Collection La Gaia – Busca, Italy receives a kick. The slapstick-like film, which lasts no For a child, disguise and transformation more than thirty-two seconds, is based on a are still the same. As a child, dressing cartoon with six images from the Italian mag- up meant becoming someone else, azine La Settimana Enigmistica. Set up only betraying the still rudimentary self with for the shooting, the cigarette machine was relish – in favour of a new, more exciting, removed immediately afterwards. During maybe even monstrous identity. The documenta, the film was shown in an end- repertoire of possible transformations also less loop on a monitor installed in a display includes animals. Becoming an animal case in the same pedestrian under-pass. promises the experience of the archaic The seemingly realistic film scenario thus and different: wildness and innocence, turned into a reflection on a cinematograph- strength and vulnerability, security and fear; ic dispositif that produces reality only as a a juxtaposition of extremes, still directly reality effect according to the conditions of accessible for a child’s imagination, while the apparatus: while the setting was real, only granted to the adult in the domesticated the micro drama unfolding in its midst was context of regulated cultural exceptions – a staged illusion. a club night, carnival, art. The manufactured quality of the image In 1997, during the preparations for his corresponds to the role of the cigarette ma- first retrospective at the Palais des Beaux- chine as the guiding instance that refuses to Arts in Brussels, Peter Friedl asked sixteen function as it should, thus triggering further staff members, including the director, to reactions. Frustration leads to aggression name the animal they had once wanted which leads to more aggression. And yet, to be. The statements and wishes were the film is not a moral judgement, but rather as charming as they were diverse: cat, a dummy in the true sense: a placeholder unicorn, penguin, giraffe, crocodile, lion, for the test on how art and social reality may “a transparent, round virus”. Friedl had these interrelate with one another beyond social animal costumes made, some in adults’, Peter Friedl, 1998, installation view Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 2000, Collection La Gaia – Busca; photo: Jean-Claude Planchet

2 3 some in children’s sizes, and arranged them While seemingly reduced on a formal in a colourful heap in one of the exhibition level, King Kong overflows with references. rooms. Visitors were free to decide whether To begin with, there is the eponymous they only wanted to look at the costumes or Hollywood classic by Merian C. Cooper and slip into the role of one the animals on display Ernest B. Schoedsack from 1933: The story (many, also the employees of the Palais of the giant ape King Kong who is carried des Beaux-Arts, chose the latter option). off into the modern world. The “King Kong” Friedl took the genre of the retrospective theme comprises a whole cosmos of racist literally: the game with the exhibits was and exotic projections. The giant ape is both in fact a reference to childhood, the most the chimera and fantasy of a culture that retrospective place of all.1 simultaneously fears and modifies, abhors In subsequent presentations, Peter and desires foreignness. By eliminating and Friedl underwent a decisive change: the oppressing the “other”, it establishes its offer of participation, which had promised consistency and identity. the prospect of a temporary return to the In Johnston’s melancholy adaptation of realm of infancy and fantasy, no longer the subject, on the other hand, King Kong’s exists. The once proffered props have perspective gains significance. The latter no become relics; documents of a bygone time. longer represents the “other” but becomes human, not despite but because of his manifest deviance. In his song, Johnston King Kong, 2001 indirectly pays tribute to the appeal for Video projection, colour, sound, 3:57 min., appreciation and individuality. loop Triomf, Friedl’s setting for Johnston’s Edition of 3 performance, exemplifies the volatile Collection Martin Z. Margulies, Miami history of this demand. Until the 1950s, the Collection Musée d’arts de Nantes, Nantes thriving centre of black culture in the west Collection Walker Art Center, Minneapoli of Johannesburg was called Sophiatown. After the forced relocation of its primarily The scene seems sparse: a park in the black population, the district was renamed King Kong, 2001, video still, courtesy of the artist and Gallery Erna Hécey, Luxembourg middle of a suburban nowhere, a few Triomf by the Apartheid regime. In 2006 it children, and from faraway, faint acapella once again became Sophiatown. Nearby singing. After a few seconds, however, the the benches, on which Johnston alternately sparseness fills with indications. The one sits, we see architectural relics of this time, and only singer-songwriter legend Daniel such as the “Christ the King” church, one of Johnston enters the picture and performs the few buildings spared by the Apartheid his song “King Kong” from 1983. A sign in the regime’s demolition programme. In 1959 a background reveals the name of the place: group of black and white artists paid musical Triomf, Afrikaans for “triumph”. But with homage to Sophiatown with the jazz opera every movement of the camera, it becomes King Kong, the story of the rise and fall of the increasingly clear that this is no place of legendary heavy-weight boxer Ezekiel “King triumph, not exactly a place where success Kong” Dhlamini. stories are born, rather a place where they In Friedl’s video, the location, the end. A suspicion Johnston’s song seems performance and the abundance of the to confirm: we know that “King Kong” was implied narratives form a literal connection a tragic hero. with the resonance that seems to swell In King Kong Peter Friedl explores the and reverberate with each passage. With music video genre. While vaguely adhering King Kong Friedl follows a simple intuition: to its basic parameters – four minutes, pop the (hi)stories of those without official music, image – Friedl uses the format to (hi)stories are not situated in historical contradict itself. Image and sound fail to blend. The construction of the set-up is too conspicuous – parts of the film equipment 1 At the time, the seemingly playful and cheerful aspect of this gesture became infiltrated by an ominous element. Due and at one point a camera operator – are to Marc Dutroux’s crimes (until the mid-1990s, Dutroux had visible, the movements of the camera sexually abused several children and adolescents and was pronounced guilty of triple murder in 2004), “childhood” are too lethargic, the sound and visuals increasingly became a synonym for a state of radical defence- too insubstantial. lessness in the public discourse in Belgium in the late 1990s.

4 5 centres but in the periphery. Rather than in more topical than ever. It is the reversal of zones of semantic density, the archaeology a standard scene. of these stories breaks ground in areas of In Friedl’s video, centuries of racist vio- apparent sparsity. King Kong is a potential lence are met by a minute of counterviolence. model for such an archaeology. However, the satisfaction the viewer might feel while witnessing this scene fails to man- ifest itself. Perhaps that is why Liberty City is Liberty City, 2007 so disturbing: the negative image reverses but Video, colour, sound, 1:11 min, loop cannot overcome the existing order. Edition of 3 Collection Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), Barcelona Theory of Justice, 1992–2010 Newspaper clippings Is it a testimony of resistance against the 16 display cases, stainless steel, Plexiglas, racist status quo? A group of black people painted plywood opposing the system’s privileged enforcer Each 100 x 160 x 75 cm and defender, the white cop? Or is it the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, white supremacist’s chimera – the white Madrid police officer who has unwittingly become the victim of a group of brutal “black Archives are ambivalent places. While gangsters”? As an isolated document, accumulating materials for the possible the uncut video sequence could be coopted (albeit makeshift and fragmentary) by either side. However, Liberty City is reconstruction and visualisation of historical not a document but staged theatre, or, events, they also generate invisibility: more precisely: “epic theatre in the style sometimes the most illuminating sources Liberty City, 2007, video still, courtesy of the artist; Gallery Erna Hécey, Luxembourg; Guido Costa Projects, Turin; of a documentary” (Friedl). turn out to be those that never entered and Nicolas Krupp Galerie, Basel The reference is historical. On the night of distinguished archives, that were not December 17, 1979, the black motorcyclist deemed worthy of serving posterity as Arthur McDuffie was stopped by white police historical documents. officers on the corner of North Miami Avenue Friedl’s long-term project Theory and 38th Street. He was abused so severely of Justice is a collection of these blind that he died from his injuries a few days later. spots in our visual memory. Without When the accused policemen were acquitted claim to totality or objectivity, the pictures in the trial five months after the incident, in Theory of Justice are dedicated solely to protests and then riots erupted in the the chronology of the documented, depicted streets of Miami. The unrest led to eighteen events and otherwise are motivated by deaths, altogether 350 injuries, and was a poetic, and anti-archival drive. Rather than only contained on the third day of revolt after mere confirmations of existing knowledge, a curfew was imposed. One of the hotspots the images are supposed to serve as trails to was Liberty City. the “optical unconscious” (Walter Benjamin). Friedl’s video was shot in the streets The spectrum ranges from strikingly of the Liberty Square Housing Project. iconic pictures of protest to intimate The residential complex built during the portraits whose political significance and Roosevelt era in the 1930s for African momentousness only become apparent American residents exemplifies the effects on second glance. Friedl’s source of segregation in urban planning. Remnants material derives from an array of different of a wall, which was built along the eastern newspapers and magazines. fringe of Liberty Square to separate black A continuous process of critical and white people, are still visible today. examination accompanied the work In view of Brown’s death in for Theory of Justice. After adding new Ferguson in 2014, and Freddy Gray’s demise photographs, Friedl would weed out in Baltimore in 2015, both victims of racist the same number of older clippings until the police violence – not to mention the open and collection finally started to “shrink” – this structural discriminations people of colour too is contrary to the logic of the archive. are subjected to in both the USA and Europe With ongoing digitalisation, the compilation Theory of Justice, 1992–2010, detail, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, installation view Museu d’Art Contemporani de on a day-to-day basis – Liberty City seems became historical in two senses: not only Barcelona (MACBA), 2006; photo: Tony Coll

6 7 the reproduced events were transformed Collection Carré d’Art, Musée d’art into history, but also the medium in contemporain de Nîmes Theory of Justice – the printed newspaper image – developed an increasingly The dramatist mentioned in the title remains anachronistic character. This made (and unnamed, but the protagonists of his (as makes) an underlying question in Friedl’s yet) unwritten play are ready: Black Hamlet, project especially compelling: What is a Crazy Henry, Giulia and Toussaint. Modelled historical image? after historical personages, the group of The title of the collection refers to handmade marionettes initiate reflections A Theory of Justice, a publication from 1971 on historiography as a narrative of time- and by the American philosopher John Rawls space-bound events. The dramatis personae who developed a comprehensive theory are Julia Schucht, Antonio Gramsci’s wife; of distributive justice. According to his Toussaint Louverture, the leader of the main thesis, social and political processes Haitian revolution who died as a prisoner in function due to the willingness to balance the French Jura in 1803; John Chavafambria, interests and reach a consensus. However, the “Black Hamlet” who became known the images in Theory of Justice show that through the Johannesburg-based doctor consensus has progressively been replaced and psychoanalyst Wulf Sachs’ notes by conflict, expressly in the age of global published in 1937; and Henry Ford, founder neoliberalism. Contrary to what Rawls might of the Ford Motor Company. have believed, the practice of politics is not The four marionettes stand side by side, defined by fair and transparent distribution their hands partly set in animated gestures, of opportunities and goods but rather by their feet on the ground. Departing from mechanisms of exploitation and exclusion. different times and places, they hang from The Dramatist (Black Hamlet, Crazy Henry, Giulia, Toussaint), 2013, Carré d’Art – Musée d’art contemporain de Nîmes, Courtesy of the artist The title, however, is not just a laconic thin threads, caught between past and and Guido Costa Projects, Turin; photo: Maria Bruni comment on Rawls’ theory – it is also future. By activating them, chronologically programmatic: as a reference to the need unconnected events would be able to for a new theory of justice which critically be freed from the isolation of recorded absorbs the evidence of injustice in the world history; an abstracted performance instead of bypassing it. Theory of Justice can could address the social, political and also be interpreted as a model of “pictorial economic attributions condensed in these justice”. The selected images in their protagonists. The four characters still looking function as newspaper images merely fulfil for an author to arrange their biographies the purpose of illustrating textual information in a fictional order are just puppets in the (or perpetuating ideologies, as some of the spotlight. Yet their unidirectional gazes examples in Friedl’s collection show). In oppose the immobility of their current Theory of Justice, on the other hand, they presence: as the desire that the loose ends are granted “a new chance on another time of the transitional processes of their times, level” (Friedl). Freed from their contexts of in which they were involved in very different employment and appeal, and arranged in a ways, might be captured, continued, and precise time grid, the images begin to convey woven into a storyline. the basics about the structure of political protest and resistance; thus isolated, each picture is made available for a broad range Report, 2016 of possible interpretations and meanings. Single channel HD video installation The political artefact becomes an aesthetic Colour, sound, 32:03 min., loop, aspect artefact. Theory of Justice also provides a ratio 16:9 proliferation of reflections on the borders and Edition of 4 intersections between art and politics. After “A Report for an Academy” by Franz Kafka (1917) The Dramatist (Black Hamlet, Crazy Henry, Giulia, Toussaint), 2013 Artist and Director: Peter Friedl Wood, metal, fabric, leather, glass, hair, Camera: Giorgos Karvelas straw, oil paint, nylon strings Sound: Vasilis Gerodimos Dimensions variable Executive Producer: Karinia Stylou

8 9 With Emenike Anayo Anderson, Hana the assimilation of the Jewish population, Al Shateri, Dimitri Ramin Sakellariou, a sceptical allegory on modernity and Emily Muthoni, Jamila Mousavi Shakoor, as a satire on the educational system.2 Seied Hamid Mousavi, Eleni Diop Galata, Peter Friedl presents Kafka’s text as Lina Tabbara, Nikolay Baev, Violette Ngoma, a performance staged for a film that Roba Safar Alrefaie, Sona Omidi, Maan seems to follow the conditions of classic Halaoui, Cyrille Narcisse Fabo Tchoumi, dramatic theory – unity of place, time, and Peter Michael Depian, Berivan Shamo, action: as a play with speaking parts for Bashar Shamo, Zahra Banshi, Maria twenty-four actors. Kallimani, Yang Kouei Fank, Esther Andre People from different backgrounds Gonzalez, Mohammed Dawlat Yar, Sultanah perform and recite Kafka’s text by heart Mousa, Fotis Rozinos in the film installation Report. Alone or in pairs, they successively appear on the Editing: Stanislaw Milkowski, Peter Friedl empty stage stripped down to the firewalls Post Production: Concept AV, Berlin that belongs to the National Theatre in Athens, designed by German architect Artistic Assistant: Daphni Antoniou Ernst Ziller in late nineteenth century. The First Camera Assistant: Lefteris Agapoulakis protagonists recite passages, either in their Second Camera Assistant: Kalliopi Perdika respective first languages or in languages Lighting: Nikos Mouzakis of their choice: Arabic, Dari (Farsi), English,

Casting: Kelly Karahaliou, Yannis Arvanitis, French, Greek, Kurdish, Russian and Report, 2016, video still, courtesy of the artist; Gallery Erna Hécey, Luxembourg; Guido Costa Projects, Turin; and Nicolas Krupp Galerie, Basel Demode_Video Cinema Koswahili. Some appear several times Production Manager: Sokratis Konstantinidis over the course of the play. The language Production Coordination: Mando Arvaniti, in which Kafka’s text was written (his Stella Alisanoglou Prague minoritarian German) is missing, Production Assistant: Vaggelis Kaliakatsos, as are homogenising subtitles which Andreas Koumoutsakos, Nikos Zisis would replace the linguistic plurality with Catering: Sotoris Marneras a unifying translation. On the contrary: the English and French passages derive from Thanks to Chalil Alizada, Hossain Amiri, translations clearly varying in style. Stefanos Gerodoukos, Yazan Jeratli, Mariam Precise in its montage, Report remains, Kasem, Alan Mousa, Alla Nammoura and with some omissions and variations, Fourough Taheri for their important support. faithful to Kafka’s narrative throughout Special thanks to Marianna Pana, National the fragmented polyphony of languages, Theatre, Athens. voices and gestures. The speeches of the actors condense their personal (and Commissioned and produced by political) bearing, coexisting in both documenta 14 a complex and suggestive scenario carried by the performers’ physical presence on In Franz Kafka’s short story “A Report to the empty, black stage. The juxtaposition an Academy” from 1917, an ape reflects of close-ups and individual figure shots on his successful humanisation and unfold a substantially elaborate and integration into society in front of the cinematographically opulent reflection “esteemed gentlemen” of an academy. on the relation of identity, language, Presented in the form of a monologue, the adjustment and autonomy that intensifies text introduces a subject both human and in the larger-than-life video projection non-human, who, in less than five years, through the subtle, rhythmic montage “has acquired the average education of of shots without zoom. Cast over a European” and actively participates in a longer period in Athens, almost all the scientific discourse, offering himself of the performers are amateur actors as a case study. The ape Red Peter and actresses; many of them came to from Africa is one of the few relatively successful heroes in Kafka’s oeuvre. 2 At one point, the animal trader, zoo and circus director Carl According to interpretation, “A Report Hagenbeck is mentioned whose autobiography Von Tieren und Menschen (Of Animals and Humans) was published in to an Academy” can be read as a story 1908. He made a living by exhibiting people from Africa and of forced adaptation, as a parable on Southeast Asia in his colonial “human zoos”.

10 11 Greece in the wake of recent immigration Study for Social Dreaming, 2014–17 movements. The Greek actress Maria HD video, colour, sound, 28:50 min., loop Kallimani is however also part of Edition of 4 the ensemble. Produced for documenta 14, which took Study for Social Dreaming begins with a long place in Athens and Kassel in 2017, Report traveling shot. Closely framed faces pass interweaves past politics of expansion and by, set against a dark background, while a colonialism – metaphorically condensed female voice recalls a dream. The minimal in the representational sphere of European mise-en-scène and a precise reproduction theatre history – with the global effects of of sound evoke a concentrated atmosphere: these politics in the twenty-first century. a stream of whispered words; chair creaks; Current forms of migration and diaspora are a camera tightly framing individual faces, mirrored in Kafka’s self-reflexive parable. alternately focusing on the speaker and the listeners; a dark black background and chiaroscuro lighting. Teatro (Report), 2016–18 As part of his workshop on “Exercises Oak, MDF, plywood, brass, Plexiglas, in Imagination”, Peter Friedl organised polyurethane resin, polystyrene, PVC, two freely accessible “Social Dreaming” stainless steel, digital print, neodymium sessions, loosely based on W. Gordon magnets, acrylic paint Lawrence’s eponymous method, in 185 x 119 x 84 cm a small theatre in Rome in spring 2014. Study for Social Dreaming is the cinematic Teatro (Report) is a model sculpture of documentation of these two sessions, each the National Theatre in Athens where with different participants. the scenes for Report were shot in June For psychoanalysis (which arose at 2016. However, the model is not just a the same time as cinema) the dream is mimesis of the existing structure – which a language requiring decoding, and thus, was commissioned by King George I, built as with every interpretation, reduces that by the German architect Ernst Ziller and which is interpreted. For the surrealists there opened in 1901. It represents theatre as a was barely a difference between dream sphere of knowledge and memory theatre and dream-text. In “Dream Kitsch”, his first (ars memoriae) as imagined by Giulio comment on Surrealism published in 1925, Camillo, the author of L’idea del theatro Walter Benjamin declared that dreaming (1550), in the renaissance, or by the English “has a share in history”, clairvoyantly philosopher and theosophist Robert describing the path that would lead to Fludd in the early seventeenth century – the dreaming collective. It was Charlotte a mnemotechnical system which connects Beradt’s The Third Reich of Dreams ideas, images and concepts through time (an anthology of dreams collected between and space. 1933 and 1939), which highlighted the Theatre models are paradoxical social dimension of dreams and their representations of architecture. The focus potential as documents for a political and is on the interior: the stage is carved out historical anthropology. Struck by Beradt’s of the real volume of the building, while collection, Lawrence, who worked as a the comparatively large space for the social scientist and researcher in London, audience is usually omitted. Friedl’s stage began to hold weekly “Social Dreaming is populated by miniature figurines of the Sessions” together with a psychoanalyst in actors from his film. Some do not appear in 1982. During the workshop initiated by Friedl, the final version as their scenes fell victim two psychologists from Turin supervised to editing. The size of the people, however, and guided the sessions, in which the does not quite coincide with the setting. participants (without prior instruction) Teatro (Report), 2016–18, installation view, courtesy of the artist and Guido Costa Projects, Turin; photo: Cristina Leoncini They are slightly too large to convincingly recounted their dreams to one another. uphold the true-to-scale illusion of Study for Social Dreaming uses the the model. original footage filmed during the sessions Teatro (Report) is an ambiguous, enchant- by several cameras, but the material ed work: a performative sculpture in ongoing was edited heavily. The resulting mock- dialogue with its own compositional elements. documentary style, however, is very much

12 13 in line with the associative storytelling of version of puppet theatre). We experience the the participants who extensively fabulate barracas as isolated artefacts and prototypes, on their dreams. The psychologists become part stage, part aesthetic object. At any time, invisible and silenced; recalled dreams this mobile theatre may start to perform seem to chain one another. Dramaturgy and yet it remains silent and still. The plot and temporality are blurred in order to and action are omitted. The twenty-two focus on the narrative structures that cover handmade puppets that make up the “stage banal, associative stories. The participants’ personnel” lie motionless on the ground or gestures, their facial expressions and peek out of the four barracas. Friedl presents language speak of the representation of us with an idiosyncratic selection of historical self, of the fiction of self, but also of the personages from different centuries, competition that guides their recollection of continents and contexts. Their common those images they claim to have seen while frame of reference is an extended Lusophone sleeping. Study for Social Dreaming could be universe reflected through the ages. regarded as the psychotherapeutic version One of them is the Sephardic Jew of the common artistic fiction that narration Abraham Zacuto (originally Abraham ben may change the world – in this case, through Samuel Zacut, 1452 – c. 1515) who fled Spain sharing and telling dreams. in 1492 and then advanced to the position of Royal Astronomer at the court of King Dom João II until he was forced to leave

Teatro Popular, 2016–17 due to the incipient persecution Study for Social Dreaming, 2014–2017, HD-video still, courtesy of the artist; Gallery Erna Hécey, Luxembourg; Guido Costa Projects, Turin; 4 “barracas”: wood, aluminium, fabric, of Jews. For a long time, his Almanach and Nicolas Krupp, Basel 22 puppets, mixed media perpetuum was one of the most important 190 x 100 x 100 cm (2 x); 180 x 90 x 90 cm; theoretical works on ocean navigation and 180 x 100 x 100 cm counted among the first books in Portugal printed according to the Gutenberg method. Originally conceived for a solo exhibition As a matter of course, Friedl lets Zacuto in Lisbon, Teatro Popular is Peter Friedl’s encounter Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and reminiscence of the Portuguese street Matamba (1583 – 1663) who, born over theatre Dom Roberto, which can be traced one hundred years later, was famous for back to the early eighteenth century. At stake her diplomatic skills and persistence in the is, as the title implies, a historical idea or resistance against Portuguese invaders. fiction of theatre as “folk art”. Besides figures of the Early Modern Age, The setting is both economic and there are also characters from the nineteenth indicative: a minimalist construction covered and twentieth century, such as the Armenian with cloth, no more than two metres high, art collector and philanthropist Calouste mobile and easy to set up and dismantle. Gulbenkian, who died in Lisbon in 1955, The so-called barraca is a stage and allegedly as the richest man in the world due hiding place in one. While above raucous to an unparalleled career in the oil industry. buffoonery holds the audience’s attention, He established the Fundação Calouste the puppeteer down below remains invisible Gulbenkian, the foundation behind the (but always clearly audible). The model Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, which opened arrangement alludes to the primal scene in Lisbon in 1969. In the present, we meet the of the popular: individuals gathered around entrepreneur Isabel dos Santos who (born in a mystical spectacle experiencing their 1973) became Africa’s first female billionaire. “common identity as a people”. Access to Next to her is her father Eduardo dos Santos, the inner workings of the barraca, however, president of Angola from 1979 to 2017, and is denied. The conscious mind, which for many years, chairman of the Movimento steers both the puppets and the gazes, Popular de Libertação de Angola, one of remains undetected. the three most important Angolan liberation Teatro Popular doesn’t aim at any movements against colonial Portugal in the “authentic” reconstruction or revival of 1960s and 1970s. a genre. Hence, the fabric used for one of the But there are also fictional characters, sets was not made in Portugal but in such as Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman), – a reference to the two countries’ colonial the female protagonist in Michael Curtiz’s involvement (and to Mamulengo, the Brazilian classic Casablanca (1942). Exiled in

14 15 Morocco during her flight from the Nazis, 101, 2016 she hopes to obtain an exit visa for safe ABS, wood, polyurethane resin, PVC, steel, passage from Lisbon to the United States. acrylic paint Many more names could be mentioned 21 x 30 x 24 cm whose stories and biographies are equally powerful and intertwined. Besides the Azraq, 2016 connection with Portugal, they all share MDF, wood, Plexiglas, polystyrene, the experience of colonialism, racism polyurethane resin, PVC, acrylic paint and imperial expansion – albeit from very 16 x 31 x 22 cm different perspectives. What they stand for, remains radically open. Dome, 2016 Friedl’s figures constitute the personnel MDF, wood, Plexiglas, polyurethane resin, of an anachronistic-utopian folk theatre PVC, acrylic paint that revises itself. Contrary to the phantasm 18 x 45.5 x 45.5 cm of a reconciled cultural unity and identity – the underlying narrative of populism – Holdout, 2016 Zacuto, Nzinga, Gulbenkian, Lund and MDF, Plexiglas, polystyrene, polyurethane company – represent the right to be resin, PVC, acrylic paint, water colour disparate and non-identical with their 27.5 x 13 x 30 cm manifold contradictory, fragmented, heroic and nonheroic biographies. Amona, 2018–19 MDF, Plexiglas, polystyrene, polyurethane resin, PVC, steel, acrylic paint Rehousing, 2012–19 11.3 x 33.3 x 10.5 cm Teatro Popular, 2016–17, detail, courtesy of the artist and Lumiar Cité, Lisbon; photo: Daniel Malhão Gründbergstraße 22, 2012 MDF, wood, brass, Plexiglas, polyurethane 8115 Vilakazi Street, 2018–19 resin, PVC, acrylic paint Formica, MDF, wood, brass, Plexiglas, 23.7 x 36.5 x 21.5 cm polyurethane resin, PVC, acrylic paint Collection Marco Rossi – Torino 11.5 x 34.4 x 26 cm

Uncle Ho, 2012 Tables: steel, plywood, acrylic paint Wood, polyurethane resin, PVC, acrylic paint Each 100 x 60 x 60 cm 20.4 x 32 x 24.5 cm Collection Marco Rossi – Torino The concept of the model as a concentrated form that depicts (future) reality generally Villa tropicale, 2012–13 plays an important role in Peter Friedl’s MDF, brass, Plexiglas, PVC, acrylic paint oeuvre. Rehousing, a series started in 14 x 26.7 x 21.4 cm 2012, consists of true-to-scale models Collection Marco Rossi – Torino that reproduce historical, partly destroyed or never realised structures presented Evergreen, 2013 on table stands. As constructed living Wood, polyurethane resin, acrylic paint environments, the selected houses reflect 23.2 x 30.5 x 23.2 cm history, politics, biographies and ideologies Collection Marco Rossi – Torino in very different ways; they are “case studies for the mental geography of an Heidegger, 2014 alternative modernity” (Friedl). The idea MDF, wood, brass, PVC, polyurethane resin, of an international Modernism designed acrylic paint by renowned architects is juxtaposed with 22.5 x 26 x 36 cm anonymous, in some cases, bricolage- Collection Marco Rossi – Torino like dwellings in which the complex repercussions of this expansive project Oranienplatz, 2014 “modernity” can be traced to the present. MDF, wood, polypropylene, PVC, Thus, the politically motivated need for acrylic paint representation is confronted with evidence 19 x 22 x 30 cm of displacement and colonisation, individual Collection Marco Rossi – Torino concepts with standardised forms, and local

16 17 building traditions with universalistic Although some of the models are highly aesthetics. Each model stands alone. charged with political significance, they are However, as with all models, the possibility all presented equally in Friedl’s “radically of comparison is vital to aesthetics. neutral approach” (Hilde Van Gelder). The laconic title of the series is reminis- Released from their multiple inscriptions, cent of the “Homelessness Prevention and they allude on a secondary level to their Rapid Re-Housing Programme” introduced specific circumstances. Beyond any local by the American “Department of Housing context, they exemplify ideas of dwelling and Urban Development” in 2009, and and living driven by ideologies, rarely by similar initiatives aimed at combating home- utopias – and in the present often only as lessness with social and urban prevention ruins of failure or manifestation of highly strategies. In view of the unemployment asymmetrical distribution of power. figures after the financial crisis in 2008, the programme’s political significance outweighed the lasting practical effects. German Village, 2014–15 Nonetheless, it shows how political agency MDF, Plexiglas, PVC, polyurethane resin, manifests itself in questions of living. wood, acrylic paint Rehousing comprises twelve models: 34.5 x 90.5 x 57.5 cm the artist’s childhood home in Austria (Gründbergstraße 22); Ho Chi Minh’s Table: steel, plywood, acrylic paint private residence, a traditional stilt house 100 x 120 x 70 cm structure in Hanoi (Uncle Ho); a slave hut on the Evergreen plantation established German Village presents scaled-down, two- in Louisiana in the eighteenth century storey German-style residential buildings (Evergreen); a never realised residential built wall to wall. German architects who had building in the razionalismo style designed emigrated from Nazi Germany, such as Erich by Luigi Piccinato for East Africa during the Mendelssohn and Konrad Wachsmann, Fascist era (Villa tropicale); a replica of the were involved in the planning as consultants. philosopher Martin Heidegger’s cabin in The simulation of German living was the Black Forest (Heidegger) as well as the built in 1943 at an army base in Utah, in reconstruction of a shack built by African the middle of the desert, in order to test refugees in Berlin and taken down by possible uses of the incendiary bombs the police in 2014 (Oranienplatz). The series intended for Allied air raids against civilian also includes a residential building from targets. The original “German Village” Vann Molyvann’s project of 100 identical combined Rhenish residential architecture houses built for employees of the National with that of Berlin apartment blocks. Bank of Cambodia in Tuk Thia, Phnom Detailed interiors were created by designers Penh in 1965–67 (101), a container house from Hollywood studios. The fictional from a refugee camp in Jordan (Azraq), village was also partly built by convicts from a domed structure inspired by Buckminster the state prison of Utah. Architecture as Fuller’s geodesic construction principles a stage and setting becomes a test case for from the hippie commune Drop City which its future destruction, which the model in was founded in South Colorado in 1965 and turn suspends. abandoned in the mid-1970s (Dome) as well as a so-called “nail house” or dingzihu — one of the resistant local structures which defy Tripoli, 2015 the Chinese building boom (Holdout). MDF, Plexiglas, PVC, wood, acrylic paint Friedl created two new models for the 48 x 104 x 32.2 cm exhibition in Vienna: Winnie and Nelson Mandela’s former home in Soweto, South Table: steel, plywood, acrylic paint Africa, now transformed into a museum 100 x 120 x 70 cm Rehousing, 2012–19, installation view Taipei Biennial, 2016 (8115 Vilakazi Street) as well as a model of one of the prefabricated container houses Tripoli realises as a model the sketch for that made up Amona – the Israeli outpost in a branch of the car producer Fiat in Tripoli, the Palestinian territories on the West Bank Libya. Conceived in 1931 by Carlo Enrico which was cleared in 2017. Rava and Sebastiano Larco, the building

18 19 is representative of Italian modernist razionalismo that characterises many colonial buildings in North and East Africa and demonstrates the spirit of Italian Fascism. The discussion about this type of Italian colonial architecture was dominated by Carlo Enrico Rava, together with Luigi Piccinato, through their publications in the periodical Domus founded by Gio Ponti. Rava, like Giuseppe Terragni and Adalberto Libera, was a member of Gruppo 7 and author of the essay “Costruire in colonia” (Colonial Building), where he propagated a modernist aesthetic paired with a precise knowledge of local conditions. Among his projects for Tripoli, which sought to express the idea of a genuine “Italian colonial architecture” (often in collaboration with Sebastiano Larco), is the design of the Piazza della Cattedrale, the church of Suani ben Aden (1930), a triumphal arch built on the occasion of the visit of the Prince of Piedmont in 1931, as well as the unrealised plans for the colonial headquarters of Rehousing, 2012–19, installation view Venice Biennale, 2015: centre: Tripoli, 2015, right: German Village, 2014–15, courtesy of the artist and the Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino Guido Costa Projects, Turin; photo: Alessandra Chemollo, Courtesy la Biennale di Venezia – merging the local preference of cubic construction with a modernist design idiom.

If not stated otherwise, works courtesy of the artist; Guido Costa Projects, Turin; Galerie Erna Hécey, Luxembourg; and Nicolas Krupp Galerie, Basel

20 21 Pay as You Wish! Thu 16/5 2019, 6 pm Children’s Workshop Each Sunday, you decide on With Vanessa Joan Müller Sat 25/5 2019, 11 am – 1 pm the admission fee and pay and 2 – 4 pm as much as you want for your Sunday Tours I make the world... exhibition visit. Every Sunday at 3 pm you Children’s Workshop in can join our art educators cooperation as part of Program on a guided tour to explore MQ-KinderKulturParcours the exhibition. The tours and WienXtra Opening focus on the presentation For children from 6 to 12 Thu 21/3 2019, 7 pm and different aspects With Peter Friedl of the work of Peter Friedl. We will build our own hand (Guided tours in German). puppets, from plaster Artist Talk With: Wolfgang Brunner, bandages, colourful fabrics Thu 11/4 2019, 7 pm Carola Fuchs, Michaela and other materials, we An Unanswered Question Schmidlechner and bring known people to life – With Peter Friedl, Anne Michael Simku. politicians, a character from Faucheret & Vanessa your favourite movie, the Joan Müller Sun 24/3, 21/4, 12/5 2019, girl next door or a museum 3 pm director. What do your Charles Ives’ composition Case studies for a mental characters tell us and what is The Unanswered Question, geography their story? written in 1906, revised in 1930–35 and premiered in Sun 31/3, 2/6, 9/6 2019, Children: 2 EUR / with 1946, places a string quartet, 3 pm Kinderaktivcard free brass and a solo trumpet The story of justice of charge in a question-and-answer Adults: Pay as You Wish situation and serves as Sun 7/4, 28/4, 26/5 2019, inspiration for an unusual 3 pm artist’s talk. Stages as playrooms. People who have worked Models of reality with Peter Friedl in the past have been asked to submit Sun 14/4, 5/5, 19/5 2019, questions that they have not 3 pm dared to ask until now, which Exact misunderstandings did not arise until after the (and precise end of the exhibition or for incompleteness) which there was never a real opportunity. Tour in sign language Peter Friedl will answer Sun 5/5 2019, 3 pm these questions on April 11. Exact misunderstandings (and precise Tours incompleteness) All tours are free with Das Wasser zum Essen. admission! As part of Integration #jungbleiben Week 2019, the Sunday Curators’ Tours Tour on May 5, will be The curators of the translated into Austrian exhibition, Anne Faucheret sign language by the and Vanessa Joan Müller, sign language interpreter discuss topics addressed by Eva Böhm. The subject the presented works of Peter of the translation – Friedl and elaborate on their which is also an aspect background. in Peter Friedl’s body of work – becomes even Thu 4/4 2019, 6 pm more visible in this art With Anne Faucheret education process.

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26 Colophon Dramaturgy © 2019 Kunsthalle Wien Andrea Hubin GmbH Exhibition Vanessa Joan Müller Kunsthalle Wien GmbH Maximilian Steinborn If not stated otherwise, all Eleanor Taylor works courtesy of the artist, Director Guido Costa Projects, Nicolaus Schafhausen Education Turin; Galerie Erna Hécey, Wolfgang Brunner Luxembourg; Nicolas Krupp CFO Carola Fuchs Galerie, Basel. Sigrid Mittersteiner Michaela Schmidlechner Michael Simku Kunsthalle Wien GmbH Curators Martin Walkner is the city of Vienna’s Anne Faucheret institution for international Vanessa Joan Müller Assistant to CFO art and discourse. Andrea Cevriz Exhibition Management Juliane Saupe Office Management Maria Haigermoser Construction Management Vasilen Yordanov Johannes Diboky Danilo Pacher Finances Mira Gasparevic Technicians Natalie Waldherr Beni Ardolic Frank Herberg (IT) Visitor Service Baari Jasarov Daniel Cinkl Mathias Kada Osma Eltyep Ali Kevin Manders External Technicians Christina Zowack Harald Adrian Hermann Amon Dietmar Hochhauser Publisher Bruno Hoffmann Kunsthalle Wien GmbH Alfred Lenz Texts Art Handling Anne Faucheret Scott Hayes Vanessa Joan Müller Johann Schoiswohl Maximilian Steinborn Andreas Schweger Stephen Zepke Editing Vanessa Joan Müller Marketing Eleanor Taylor David Avazzadeh Martin Walkner Katharina Baumgartner Adina Hasler Translation Marlene Rosenthal Kathrin Lewald

Press & Communication Art Director Stefanie Obermeir Boy Vereecken Pia Wamsler (Intern) Design Fundraising & Sponsoring Antoine Begon Maximilian Geymüller Print Event Production Druckerei Seyss GmbH & Gerhard Prügger Co KG Pay as You Wish! Each Sunday, you decide on the admission fee and pay as much as you want for your exhibition visit.

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