Elke Silvia Krystufek

Luxury

27. September - 23. November 2018
W&K Palais Schönborn-Batthyány
Renngasse 4 | 1010 Wien
opening hours
Tue - Fri 11am - 5pm
The versatility of Elke Silvia Krystufek is already evident in her artistic fields of activity. Her art is painting, installation and photography, and she also writes literary texts, books and plays. The irritation, the breaking of taboos and the confrontation with everyday, political and cultural themes are constantly present in Krystufek's artistic confrontation. The viewer cannot escape a reaction - whether shame, aggression, enthusiasm or admiration. Krystufek's performances of the 1990s are often associated with Viennese Actionism. However, the artist herself sees this only as a quotation, as many other artist colleagues of her generation do. From an always emancipatory point of view she works not only with performance art but also with a great variety of media and technology, such as painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, collages, video, jewellery, fashion, etc..

From September 28, the artist will be showing works in the W&K-Palais. Inspired by the baroque rooms, she deals with the theme of "luxury". On display are works from the 1980s - from Krystufek's beginnings before she turned 20 - to current works and works specially conceived for the exhibition. In doing so, she deals with questions of what luxury means in today's society. The material and immaterial aspects as well as their social and cultural effects are addressed. Luxury has a long and controversial history and is characterized by cultural values and personal dreams. In addition to the search for the extraordinary and exclusive, the term "luxury" is redefining itself and is increasingly being discussed in connection with intangible goods such as time, security, independence or even political freedom. The exhibition takes up this socio-political field of tension and shows Krystufek's artistic approaches to a social phenomenon based on Barnett Newman's famous question: who is afraid of red, yellow and blue?

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue with texts by Barbara Steffen and Marlene Streeruwitz.
Photo: Martin Ulm

Installationshots

Publications

Press

Diva im Apfelbaum
Profil, 40/2018 | 28.09.2018