“Fame/Fake/Fail and Fear – Schwarze Melange” was a group exhibition curated by Eleni Kampuridis, which was shown at Kunsthalle Exnergasse and at Kunstraum “Die Schöne”. It included two works from my 2017 series that transformed political horrors with a transmedial pixelation/painting process.
The artists participating in the exhibition investigate, document, expose, and analyse the effects of language and image as a foundation of fine arts and PR based on the example of the 2017 Austrian election campaigns. Thanks to an ingenious PR strategy, then-chancellor candidate Sebastian Kurz could create a mood swing without any political urgency. In 2000 Christoph Schlingensief caused a stir in the framework of the Wiener Festwochen with his container action »Bitte liebt Österreich (Please Love Austria)«. A perfect staging of image and language can unleash emotions, which can be utilised either for political, marketing strategy, or artistic purposes. Hence, this exhibition is also a call to critically question information, to verify its substance, and to apply marketing tools with an apparent positive image effect more consciously—also in the field of fine arts.
