Was ist Kunst, IRWIN?

In the organizer's words:

The exhibition focuses on the Slovenian artist collective IRWIN (Dušan Mandič, Miran Mohar, Andrej Savski, Roman Uranjek, Borut Vogelnik), whose founding will be 40 years in 2023. IRWIN was also one of the founders of the meta-collective New Slovenian Art (NSK) in 1984 - together with the music group Laibach, the theater Sester Scipion Nasice and the design department Novi kolektivizem.

Since 1983 IRWIN has been dealing with the history of art in Eastern Europe, specifically with the ambivalent legacy of the historical avant-garde and its totalitarian successors, that is, with the dialectic of avant-garde and totalitarianism. Since the 1990s, the group has concentrated on critically questioning the art history of "Western Modernism". It contrasts this with the "retro-avant-garde" and an "eastern modernism". In the 2000s, the NSK State in Time - founded in 1992 parallel to Slovenia's independence - becomes relevant: a state without territory and state nation, but which issues passports as "confirmation of temporal space". Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 12:00-17:00, these can be applied for in the installation Transnacionala (fee: 32 €). In the vertical on the U3, posters advertise tourist trips to the state during the exhibition.

The exhibition consists of two major chapters. The first exhibition chapter asks about the black humor that is always present in the works of IRWIN. The second chapter is dedicated to questions of the state - and how IRWIN uses it to comment on current issues such as migration. Over 100 works by the collective will be on display.

The Museum Ostwall (MO) on the U5 will also present the new production Was ist Kunst, Bernd und Hilla Becher?, which was created using the nine-part series Fördertürme (1973-1989) by Bernd and Hilla Becher (MO Collection).

The exhibition is accompanied by a "source book" that systematically breaks down the image sources of IRWIN's works and classifies them (art-)historically.

Curated by Inke Arns and Thibaut de Ruyter.

We thank Gregor Podnar (Vienna) for his support.