Double opening together with ON AIR:
Monday, 18 March 2024, 7 p.m.
Opening speech: Johannes Raimann
The UNWEIT project involves both institutions, FOTOGALERIE WIEN and plan.d. from Düsseldorf, exhibiting together in each other’s premises. Artist Johannes Raimann, who is familiar with both collectives, has an intermediary role as curator. The collectives of both non-profit organisations are structurally not far from one another. They consist of artists and (in the case of Vienna) two art historians, who devise, formulate and organise the year-round exhibition programme of the respective galleries. Both plan.d. (founded 1999) and FOTOGALERIE WIEN (founded 1982) consider themselves to be – outside the sphere of commercial galleries – open exhibition, discussion and information platforms as well as places for exchange between national and international artists. Whereas plan.d. artists are involved in all mediums, FOTOGALERIE WIEN’s focus is on photography, video and interdisciplinary projects.
UNWEIT I took place in 2023 at plan.d. in Düsseldorf. For this, the artists of both institutions developed a joint exhibition with their own new works largely conceived for the occasion. This exhibition is now being shown, slightly modified, at the FOTOGALERIE WIEN.
The term „unweit” has been interpreted and processed by the artists in very different ways. However, they almost always deal with the subject of “space“. Works will be presented that are about nearness and distance. Geographical distance can be overcome by the jointly developed exhibition concept. In addition to physical distance, mental and social aspects also play a role. Social interaction is a game between distance and closeness, aloneness and togetherness, similariy and difference. Some artists focus on these opposite pairs.
Other works engage with the issues of mobility or travel. Travelling is an activity in which time and space are intertwined. Time that leaves traces. So there are also works in which the subject of „unweit” is approached from an ecological perspective. In a fully globalised world questions of distance have to be reconsidered. Overcoming distance uses up finite resources. So practices such as “walking” or “running” take on new meanings. Furthermore, meditative works, aimed at a consideration of philosophical, existential questions, are part of the exhibition. The full range of meanings implicit in the word “unweit” becomes visible by bringing together the different approaches.
Petra Noll-Hammerstiel and Johannes Raimann