The Geography of Art

three public screenings and discussions with the editorial team of Springerin magazine
May 12, 19 and 26, 2005
Rotterdam: Witte de With, TENT., and Cinerama

Christian Höller, Hedwig Saxenhuber & Georg Schöllhammer of Springerin magazine curated a series of screenings and discussions around the geography of art. Springerin has persistently questioned the hegemony of particular explanatory models, historical narratives and institutional systems for art, coupling an interest in the developments in ‘postcommunist’ art and culture to a critical perspective on the traditions in Western Europe.

May 12, 2005
Screening & talk: Georg Schoellhammer: Parallel Movements

For a long time the most influential Central European conceptual artists of the 1960s and 70s were only mentioned in Western art history in footnotes or passing comments. This film programme focused on conceptual art made in Central European countries between 1963-1985. The programme will put practices that transgressed the classical borders of modernist art into a concise historical context and point to the fact that these works were not created in response to the West, or after the fact, but in a parallel movement.

The selected works reflect the political and cultural geography of Eastern Europe of their time. They engage with the transformation of urban space, with the political relation of the private to the public, with the ideological position of the viewer and with the specific domain of the media. Parallel Movements shows core works by artists who are a pivotal point of reference for artists today.

With the following films:

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May 19, 2005
Discussion: Hedwig Saxenhuber and Ines Doujak

Artist Ines Doujak (Austria) examines the construction of ethnic and gendered identity. This discussion focused on Dirty Old Women, an ongoing project that addresses the experience and representation of elder women in our society. Doujak: “The experience of ageing affects the genders differently, especially regarding its psychological, social and economic consequences. In Western societies femininities are affected by age much earlier than masculinities and they suffer more from the stigma and the negative cultural stereotypes adhering to age.” Doujak searches for strong, joyful images of old women that are not clichéd, engaging via a ‘Call for Pictures’ in collaboration and critical reflection with the women concerned. Workshops with female seniors have been held in Barcelona (2004), Vienna (2004) and Salzburg (2005).

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May 26, 2005
Screening & talk: Christian Hoeller: Exiles, Emigres, and other Misfits

For more than three decades, Middle and South Eastern European societies have been marked by a particular kind of crisis that challenges their very fabric and cohesion. This crisis has long been neglected, or even denied, by official authorities, but has found one of its more critical outlets in the realm of cultural production. It has been embodied by different protagonists

migrants, ethnic "others," as well as social misfits of various kinds. The selected films not only provide glimpses into the lives and dwellings of several of these critical figures, but also demonstrate a persistent sense of survival.

With the following films: