2013

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“‘Alliances, misalliances and false friends: Liaisons dangerous’, the leitmotif of this year’s steirischer herbst looks at the nature of dangerous relationship cocktails of connections which, for all their fragility, are passionate, explosive and always powerful. A ‘liaison’, from the French perspective, is much more than a flirt or a love affaire: it can be applied to connections, relationships and their transformation—in society, art and culture and in both the private sphere and in politics. While one year ago, steirischer herbst focused on the role of art in society-changing moments, we now proceed to look at a number of other questions: what coalitions and compromises are entered into in order to carry through visions and goals? What relations of dependence open up? What scales and disparities are reflected in old boy networks, ‘forced marriages’ of all kinds. What if the line between coalition and corruption gets thinner and thinner? And, in the end, what are the constellations in which we could finally make headway? As always, it is more the questions than the answers that move us. And, as always, these questions will feature recurrently in the steirischer herbst programme—playful, direct—and often associative.”
—Veronica Kaup-Hasler (original booklet translation)

With the leitmotif Liaisons dangereuses: Alliancen, Mesalliancen und falsche Freunde (Liaisons dangereuses: Alliances, Misalliances, and False Friends), steirischer herbst ’13 looked at “the nature of toxic mixtures, connections that, for all their fragility, are passionate, explosive, but always powerful” (program booklet). The topic was thus connections, relationships, and how they are transformed in society, art, and culture. The festival center occupied the Ex-Zollamt, the former customs office, and the neighboring Explosiv youth cultural center over four weekends.

The former central transshipment center near the train station was transformed by the German-French landscape architect team atelier le balto “into the pulsing center for many events”: the herbst exhibition, Liquid Assets (curated by Luigi Fassi and Katerina Gregos), the installation Close Link by hoelb/hoeb, the artist evenings One Night Stands, the open workshop by Lisa D., and many concerts and other events all took place there.

This year the opening was not held as usual at a central location but was instead spread out over ten hours at various locations and events, with a shuttle service connecting the venues at the Helmut List Halle, the Dom im Berg, and the festival center. The events included H, an Incident by the Belgian troupe A Two Dogs Company under Kris Verdonck, the choreography Happy End by Anne Juren, and the premiere of Economic Theory for Dummies by Amund Sjølie Sveen.

Other highlights were the premieres of the forest project by united sorry & Freunde, Dewey Dell’s Marzo, and Massimo Furlan’s Gym Club. The three-day theory event Liaisons dangereuses: Seeking Emancipatory Alternatives in Trembling Times (curated by Luigi Fassi and Anne Faucheret) was thematically linked to the 24/7 marathon camp of the previous year.

Program