2008

Georg Friedrich Haas, Melancholia (2008), opera, Oper Graz, 2008, photo: Wolfgang Silveri

raumlaborberlin, moderato cantabile (2008), Festival Center of steirischer herbst ’08, Joanneum Graz, 2008, photo: Wolfgang Silveri

Janez Janša, Name: Readymade (2008), exhibition view, Forum Stadtpark, Graz, 2008, photo: Wolfgang Silveri

Claus Föttinger, The Gallipoli Project (2006), illuminant, at Common Affairs, Joanneum, Graz, 2008, photo: David Auner

Ergin Çavuşoğlu, Quintet without Borders (2007), five-channel synchronized PAL video, five-channel audio, 21’ 21”, dimensions variable, a collaboration with Konstantin Bojanov, exhibition view, Haunch of Venison, Zurich, 2007 (exhibited at wie du mir, Minoritengalerien im Priesterseminar, Graz, 2008), photo: © Jon Etter; courtesy of the artist
steirischer herbst ’08
Strategies for Avoiding Misfortune
Director
Veronica Kaup-Hasler
Festival dates
2.–26.10.2008
Curatorial team
Chief Dramaturge & Curator: Florian Malzacher
Dramaturge: Kira Kirsch
Curator Visual Arts: Reinhard Braun
Artistic Assistant: Gerda Strobl
Advisory Board: Hannah Hurtzig, Frie Leysen, Berno Odo Polzer, Sergej Goran Pristaš, Georg Schöllhammer, Gesa Ziemer
“‘Strategies for avoiding misfortune’ stands for the sceptical belief in the possibilities of an action. Action between image and deed, post ironic but not un-ironic, active but not activist. Pathos as an everyday reality: It is still about doing something, moving something, changing something. But how can we escape the paralysis of thought and action in view of the claim that the age of (often abused) utopias and grand social visions is a thing of the past? Does our power discernment not hone itself precisely in the little, manageable areas of life?”
—Veronica Kaup-Hasler (original booklet translation)
Strategien zur Unglücksvermeidung (Strategies for Avoiding Misfortune) was the optimistic motto of steirischer herbst ’08. Like to-do lists written in order to master chaos, the leitmotif generated a list of terms, from A as in “accelerate” and B as in “believe” to W as in “wait.” It was accompanied discursively by a “Walking Conference” on five strolls (curated by Florian Malzacher and Gesa Ziemer). The opening took place at the Helmut List Halle with the large-scale installation Volksbad Waagner-Biro-Straße (Waagner-Biro-Strasse Public Baths) as a walk-in sculpture by Steinbrener/Dempf.
The Joanneum, which was unoccupied due to renovation, provided the backdrop for the nomadic festival center by raumlaborberlin, a spectacular architectural explosion inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni’s film classic Zabriskie Point. The festival center hosted events including the film program Der Ruhm des Beliebigen (The Glory of the Arbitrary), curated by Reinhard Braun; the exhibitions Common Affairs (with Ursula Biemann, Claus Föttinger, Josephine Meckseper, and others; curated by Reinhard Braun) and Pop Ark by Noah Fischer; the nonstop performance installation Die Komplex-Nord-Methode (The Complex Nord Method) by SIGNA; and a club and the “bureaucratic enactment” Ersatzherbstlager (Substitute herbst Camp, known as EHL), with “substitute units” for all the program points listed in the areas of visual art, theater, dance, performance, music, literature, film, and theory.
The Austrian premieres included Bleib opus #3 (Stay Opus 3) by Michel Schweizer at the Helmut List Halle, Dance #1 / Driftworks by Eszter Salamon at the Dom im Berg, Poetics: A Ballet Brut by the Nature Theater of Oklahoma at the Schauspielhaus, and Melancholia, an opera in three parts by Georg Friedrich Haas and Jon Fosse, at the Graz Opera.
Program
Opening
Festival centre
Theatre / Performance / Dance
Exhibitions
wie du mir bei den Minoritengalerien im Priesterseminar
Strategien zur Unglücksvermeidung
next code: exit Ausstellung Gleisdorf
next code: exit Ausstellung Weiz
Music
DIY: Do It Yourself Abschlusskonzert
Auszeit - Time Stretch - pour orchestre
Präsentation des Projekts ECAS
The Opposite of Art / The Art of Opposites - a distorted view of Austrian musical heritage
...as seen from the middle of east... Diskussion
Los Glissandinos meets AMM plus special guest Burkhard Stangl
Literature
Theory / Discourse / Playing Field Research
Workshop I Warum wir nicht das tun, was wir eigentlich wollen. Und doch Akteure sind
Workshop II vocabulaboratories-Wie artikulieren wir Handlungsräume?
Workshop III Protokoll des Untergangs-Schreiben als politisches Handeln
Film
Festival opening
02.10., 19:30
Steinbrener / Dempf (A) - Volksbad Waagner-Biro-Straße
People Press Play (DK) - Digital Intimacy
Venues
< rotor >, Grazer Stadtgebiet
Andreas-Hofer-Platz, HDA - Haus der Architektur Graz
Camera Austria
Dom im Berg
ESC im LABOR
Festivalzentrum im Joanneum
Forum Stadtpark
Generalmusikdirektion
Grazer Kunstverein
Grazer Stadtgebiet
Hauptplatz, Gleisdorf
Helmut-List-Halle
Kunsthaus Graz / Space 04
Kunsthaus Weiz
Kunsthaus Weiz, Künstlerhaus, Hauptplatz, Gleisdorf
Kunstverein Medienturm
Künstlerhaus
Medienkunstlabor
Minoriten-Galerien im Priesterseminar
Minoritensaal
Minoritensaal, Universitätszentrum Theologie, Schauspielhaus Graz, Afro-Asiatisches Institut, ISOP, Chiala Afriqas
Museum im Rathaus Gleisdorf
Neue Galerie Graz
Oper Graz
Schauspielhaus Graz
Stefaniensaal (Grazer Kongress)
Theater am Lend
zeit_raum
Publications

Program booklet of steirischer herbst 2008: steirischer herbst festival gmbh, steirischer HERBST (Graz: 2008)

steirischer herbst festival gmbh, herbst. Theorie zur Praxis (Graz: 2008)
→ Available here

steirischer herbst, Florian Malzacher, Prawda jest konkretna. Artystyczne strategie w polityce. Podręcznik (Warsaw: Fundacja Nowej Kultury Bęc Zmiana, 2008)
→ Available here

Claus Philipp, Peter Weibel (Eds.), Elfriede Jelinek, Chtistoph Schlingensief, Patti Smith. The African Twintowers (Graz: Neue Galerie Graz am Landesmuseum Joanneum, 2008)

Janez Jansa, Zdenka Badovinac, Blaz Lukan, NAME Readymade (Ljubljana: Moderna Galerija, 2008)

Reinhard Braun, Common Affairs (Graz: Edition Camera Austria, 2008)

Ivana Sajko, Welt retten. Saving the World. Vier Kurzstücke für den steirischen herbst (Graz: steirischer herbst festival gmbh, 2008)
Retrospective
Retrospective