SONNENLAND

Austrian Cultural Forum, New York

Sonnenland

Installation
(Film 16mm/DVD, 16 minutes, looped)

In his video Sonnenland, Paul Divjak addresses a sensitive subject. He filmed handicapped children, showing the viewer the fine line between documentation and voyeurism via a sociopolitically controversial subject. Rather than violating privacy, his camera captured the direct, playful, and authentic interaction between those involved in the video shoot.

“Videorama – Absurdity, Subversion, and Form in Austrian Video Art”
Austrian Cultural Forum, New York

Participating Artists: Renate Bertlmann, BitteBitteJaJa, Paul Divjak, Thomas Draschan, Tomas Eller, Nicolas Jasmin, Anna Jermolaewa, Leopold Kessler, Stephan Lugbauer, Rudolf Polanszky, Gerwald Rockenschaub, Hubert Sielecki, Erwin Wurm

Curators: Gerald Matt, Andreas Stadler, and Angela Stief

Videorama Partners:
Austrian Cultural Forum, New York, USA, December 1, 2000 – January 23, 2010
Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2010
Der Kunstverein, seit 1817, Hamburg, Germany, 2010
Galerie Henze & Ketterer, Bern, Switzerland, November 28, 2009 – February 27, 2010
Lalit Kala Akademie, National Academy of Art, New Delhi, India, 2010
MSU Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia, 2010
Museum der Moderne/Rupertinum, Salzburg, Austria, 2010
ParaSite, Hong Kong, China, 2010
Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Peking, China, 2010
Ursula Blickle Stiftung, Kraichtal, Germany, 2010
Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland, 2010

Publication: A German and English booklet (approx. 60 pp.) with 2 DVDs edited by curators Gerald Matt, Angela Stief, and Gerhard Johann Lischka for Kunsthalle Wien has been published by Benteli Verlag to accompany the exhibition.



Prague Quadrennial

Intersection: Intimacy & Spectacle

PQ - Intersection ©Paul DivjakPRAGUE, JUNE 16-26, 2011

Piazzeta of the National Theatre at Narodni Trida 2, Prague 1 At Piazzetta between the National Theatre and New Stage Theatre (ex-Laterna Magika) you could find a dwelling of thirty white cubes/black boxes. This architectural maze was inhabited by performative projects by scenographers, performers, choreographers, film directors, drama theatre, installation artists, fashion designers, writers, painters…

This live exhibition talked to you only if you talked back to it. This living and breathing exhibition told you stories, and the more time you spent there the more it spoke to you. It tought you to dance, and asked you to listen. It required positioning and it let you get lost. If you were afraid of intimacy – you better wouldn’t have entered.

Prague Quadrennial – Intersection
Curated by: Sodja Lotker

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS: Nathaniel Mellors // Ana Borralho & João Galante // Markus Schinwald // mareunrol’s // Brett Bailey /the Third World Bunfight// Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio // Hooman Sharifi / Impure Company // Ilya and Emilia Kabakov // Monika Pormale // Hans Rosenström // Anna Viebrock / Till Exit // Josef Bolf // Josef Nadj // Guerra de la Paz // Terike Haapoja // Egon Tobiáš // Elevator Repair Service // Ioana Mona Popovici / Simon Vincenzi // Ulla von Brandenburg // Caroline Evans / Hansjörg Schmidt // Bohdan Holomíček / Eva Hrubá // Abbey Theatre // Harun Farocki // Dace Džeriņa // Paul Divjak // Dejan Kaludjerović


84% of Destruction


Series #1-5, C-Prints, 2002


Sowing the Seeds

SCHALOM

SOWING THE SEEDS – Schalom/Shalom
Installation by Divjak/Weishäupl (Grass area, Vienna Heldenplatz)

On March 15, 1938 a crowd gathered on Heldenplatz cheered for the “Führer” and celebrated the so-called “Anschluss” (annexation) to the German Reich.

Seventy-five years later, in March 2013, grass will be sown on the field on which the masses shouted with enthusiasm in 1938. Slowly, the word “Shalom” is gradually becoming legible. Peace as a wish and a path for all people. “Shalom” as a delicate, growing symbol that must be taken care of.

In cooperation with
Österreichische Präsidentschaftskanzlei
Österreichische Bundesgärten
Burghauptmannschaft Österreich

Sponsored by
Vienna Insurance Group

(Duration: March 15th – November 9th 2013)