From The Nocturnal Cave I Farewell The Day
“Against the contemporary expectations to be seen, the artists speculate on the existence of nightly hybrid beings.
Set in an unfinished brutalist building, the site-specific exhibition narrates nocturnal activity as one possible shelter from our daylight exposure.”
The given building persist as an architectural dissident against contemporary spatial and social acceleration. Similar states of counter-impermanence can
be found during the night, when hours get longer and time undergoes a reduction in societal expectations. Through acoustic repetitions and
displacement; material and physical shifting states of being; historical and narrative temporalities, the artists introduce a strong preference for
circulatory forms and practices; enhanced experiences that reject conventions of chronology and linearity. Directed by the given architecture,
interdisciplinary contributions as spatial overlaps respective to history and ideas behind planning speculate on nocturnal existence and beings against daylight exposure.
The „Hepatica“ House was designed by architects Herbert Prader and Franz Fehringer in close coordination with the owners. Their design embodies a
postmodern understanding of living, embedded in a lifestyle that unites the ecosphere and architecture. This symbiosis of nature and building is expressed
mainly through its organic-mineral form, an observatory-like view of the garden, as well as the presence of the elements of fire and water within the
interior architecture. Construction began in 1978 and was continuously optimized. Original plans for a spherical upper floor resulted in the
cylindrical substructure of the swimming pool, which in turn created space for the internal balconies. Throughout the construction, the project
encountered technical and personal challenges that temporarily stalled progress. Despite these difficulties, the artists believe the vision of an
alternative and symbiotic lifestyle is still immanent in the space itself.
14. March, 5pm
15.–19. March, 2–8pm
17. March, 6pm, sound performance by Philipp Kleinwort
Pötzleinsdorferstr. 27, 1180 Wien
(not barrier-free)
With: Gerda Nurk, Philipp Kleinwort, Felix Reutzel
Team: Mona Prochaska, Sophie Olivia Taleja Schmidt
Graphic Design: Christopher Tröster
Thanks to Miriam, Rathmann, Ida, Can and Marius
Funded by Stadt Wien and Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport (BMKÖS)
