ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Artists almost around the world
A project created to provide international perspectives to help local artists survive the Covid-19 crisis in 2021–2023 through art.
A collaboration between the Künstlerhaus Association and the Austrian Ministry for European and International Affairs.
“Somewhere there is another way of living,
Somewhere there is another way of thinking,
Somewhere there is another way of sharing.”
(Bugge Wesseltoft, Sharing, on the 1998 album Sharing)
The exhibition On the Road Again presents 24 contemporary art projects from Austria, specially created for 23 cities around the world and brought together in Vienna for a shared final presentation. The project of the same name lasted a period of three years: a call for proposals and selection in 2021, project implementation in 2022, and now the group exhibition in 2023.
The idea was to use the cultural network of the Austrian Foreign ministry and its resources for a post-Covid initiative to encourage artists to start new projects around the world. On the Road Again was the first joint call for proposals made by the Austrian Cultural Fora to artists in the fine arts and media art. We looked for new artistic concepts and site-specific installations dealing with the designated topic and the respective host country of the Austrian Cultural Fora in the following cities: Arad (Tel Aviv Cultural Forum), Belgrade, Berlin, Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Istanbul, Krakow, Kyiv, Ljubljana, London, Mexico City, New York, Prague, Rome, San Francisco, Sarajevo, Tehran, Tianjin (Beijing Cultural Forum), Tokyo, Warsaw, Washington, and Zagreb.
The exhibition’s overarching theme centres around upheaval in society and the environment, and the way that artists address realities that affect everyone around the world. Our society is changing, as is the economic and political environment in which we live. The Russian attack on Ukraine has brought war back to Europe. And the world itself is changing, not least because of humanity’s careless actions.
The aim was to gather the broadest possible spectrum of contemporary Austrian art creation, going beyond questions of age or citizenship. The only requirement was that participating artists primarily live and work in Austria. Organisers received almost 500 submissions, from which the jury selected 24, keeping in mind that the statements would subsequently be brought together in a joint exhibition.
In some cases, reality stood in the way of the art: For Jelena Micić it simply was not possible to carry out the project she had planned for the Kyiv Cultural Forum, and the artist is instead showing a work she created for the exhibition in the Künstlerhaus. The political situation in Iran made it impossible to implement Linda Berger’s project as originally planned. And finally, it was not possible to travel to two of the destinations: Anna Witt is therefore presenting the concept for the piece she planned for Tokyo, and Stefanie Moshammer realised her project WE LOVE OUR CUSTOMERS not in the Chinese capital as planned, but in Tianjin, with the help of the Beijing Cultural Forum.
Artists: Linda Berger, Ramesch Daha, Josepha Edbauer, Mathias Hanin, Kaja Clara Joo, Georgij Melnikov and Hidéo Snes (curated by Marija Nujic, Vanja Fuchs, Georg Demmer), Gabriele Edlbauer and Julia Goodman, Barbara Eichhorn, Anna Khodorkovskaya and Joanna Zabielska, Aglaia Konrad, Matthias Klos, Holger Lang and Martina Tritthart (Mutual Loop), Claudia Larcher, Rosmarie Lukasser, Christian Kosmas Mayer, Jelena Micić, Maaijke Middelbeek, Ernst Miesgang, Stefanie Moshammer, Olaf Osten, Zara Pfeifer, Rainer Prohaska, Werner Reiterer, Darja Shatalova, Paul Spendier, Martina Tscherni, Anna Witt, Reinhold Zisser (with works by Sebastian Doplbaur, Christoph Schwarz, Rainer Stadlbauer – studio-itzo and Kristin Weissenberger)
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
Concept and Project Lead Simon Mraz
BMEIA Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Valentina Harnoncourt, Regina Rusz, Rupert Weinmann, Thomas Kloiber, Martin Freissmuth, Tamara Pavic, Christine Wendl Jury Silvie Aigner, Martin Böhm, Christian Helbock, Brigitte Kowanz, Christoph Thun-Hohenstein
Website and Graphic Identity Design and Implementation Jan Vranovsky, Chiawen Vranovsky
Please find more information on the call here: www.ontheroadcall.at
EXHIBITION
Curated by Simon Mraz, Christian Helbock
Production Assistance Oksana Kornitska
Exhibition Design studio-itzo
Organisation Peter Gmachl
Production Vinzent Cibulka, Gerald Roßbacher and Art Consulting & Production
Publication Management Alexandra Gamrot
Communication, PR, Art Education Alexandra Gamrot, Julia Kornhäusl, Mirjam Prochazka, Daliah Touré
© Text Simon Mraz, based on the artists’
statements
Copy Editor/ Translation Ada St. Laurent
© Images All copyrights are with the artists
and photographers
Project Website Leopold Šikoronja
Special thanks to
Anna Edlinger, Johanna Höpler, Teresa Indjein, Linus Klumpner, Ingrid Köhn-Dursy, Peter Mikl, Knut Neumayer, Günther Oberhollenzer, Tamara Pavic, Tanja Prušnik, Sonja Reiser-Weinzettel, Peter Zawrel
All 478 artists who submitted their ideas and concepts to the call for proposals.
All the leaders and team members of the participating cultural fora.
