Reading Back And Forth

In the forty years of its existence, the question of the relationship between art and the public has always been of key importance to steirischer herbst: After all, a contemporary, pugnacious festival that is on the one hand aligned to an international audience and on the other hand firmly rooted in the local setting, operates in controversial areas of public spheres – between love and scandal.

Has steirischer herbst, then, set something in motion that has shaken the borderlines between art and public spheres at least temporarily? Or are these myths? A history that may not repeat itself?

„Reading Back And Forth“ invites seven artists from very different backgrounds to explore these questions and to develop specific readings of the history and the presence of the festival in commissioned works: By interventions in the public space or within the exhibition space, they describe mechanisms of production, they are referring back to artistic strategies from the early days of the festival or examining the relationship between politics and culture. Where are the borders, the contradictions or exclusions of an institution located that has always devoted itself to the risk of enabling artistic processes?

Such questions do not aggrandise the history of the festival nor do they relativise its importance. Instead, they re-view models of production and mediation that are taken for granted, so as to examine their impact on artistic practices and strategies. Looking not so much into the past as into the present.

Kuratorin / Kurator: Reinhard Braun
Künstlerin / Künstler / Gruppe: Maria Eichhorn
Künstlerin / Künstler / Gruppe: Famed
Künstlerin / Künstler / Gruppe: Annika Eriksson
Künstlerin / Künstler / Gruppe: Willem Oorebeek
Künstlerin / Künstler / Gruppe: plan b
Künstlerin / Künstler / Gruppe: Joke Robaard
Künstlerin / Künstler / Gruppe: Michael Schuster
Künstlerin / Künstler / Gruppe: Manuela Zechner