SOS – Sabine Wiedenhofer

Opening on Wednesday, May 8 2024, 7.00pm

Galerie Reinisch Contemporary, Hauptplatz 6, Graz

Introduction: Manuela Schlossinger

An expert talk on the topic of “The artist and the message” will take place on May 11th at 11 a.m. as part of the Graz Gallery Weekend.
Participants: Dr. Silvie Aigner (editor-in-chief Parnass), Sabine Wiedenhofer (artist), Dr. Alfred Weidinger (Upper Austrian State Museum Linz), Mag. Manuela Schlossinger (Reinisch Contemporary), Moderation: Martin Traxl (ORF)

Sabine Wiedenhofer broadcasts a clear message with the `Suspended Words’ group of works. Objects whose NATO cartridges have been defused are relentlessly directed at the viewer, comment on the socio-economic and cultural condition of the present. Ammunition and signal color give the semantic meaning of short phrases visual form. Parallel to the artist‘s presentation in Venice, in the context of this year‘s Biennale di Venezia, Reinisch Contemporary shows this cycle of works in Graz encompassing.

The series of works “Suspended Words” by the Viennese artist Sabine Wiedenhofer – lettering made from thousands of defused rifle cartridges – oscillates between different levels of meaning on the one hand and creates drastic comparisons by integrating ammunition into semantic contexts on the other hand, without forcing answers on the viewer.

After the opening of her exhibition “SO SORRY, Alea iacta est” in April 2024 as part of the exhibition “Glasstress 8 1⁄2” in the context of the 60th Venice Biennale and the lettering “SO SORRY” shown there, Sabine Wiedenhofer directs the bullets at the visitors of Reinisch Contemporary gallery in Graz. The message is the artist’s visual cry:

“Save Our Souls” – an international distress signal in times of war, climate change and the general brutalization of humanity. A symbol of the socio-economic and cultural state of our world, which only we humans can change.

EXPERTTALK: the artist and the message

Art theory of the last 50 years ranges from “disinterested pleasure” as a prerequisite for assessing a work of art to “art must disturb, art must end social sleep, must be unpleasant, must confront us with problems, must move, must frighten and often even shock us .” These examples from Emmanuel Kant and Erwin Ringel show how widely attitudes differ when it comes to how much content one allows a work of art to have.

“Parnassus” editor-in-chief Dr. Sylvia Aigner, Dr. Alfred Weidinger (Upper Austrian State Museums Linz), curator Mag. Manuela Schlossinger and the artist Sabine Wiedenhofer will discuss the topic of “the artist and the message”.
Can art have a message? Can art change the world? And: How political can art be, or how political must art be?