Kunstraum Lakeside invites artists and cultural practitioners to participate in its 2022 program with their own “Statement”. We are in search of performative formats that relate to the Kunstraum’s annual topic and experiment with modes of representation in the visual arts, in the context of an institution at the interface between art, science, and technology.

Kunstraum Lakeside focuses on one topic each year, which evolves from the local and institutional particulars of the exhibition, performance, and discourse space itself. Its association with a science and technology park and the correlations between the exhibition contents and the semester program at the University of Klagenfurt prompt questions about the role of artists in current knowledge production. Curated by Franz Thalmair and Gudrun Ratzinger, the program concentrates on fields of action encompassed under the term “artistic research”. Artistic research is conceived as a field that, in addition to just an aesthetic experience, enables one to reflect upon the conditions of his/her activities within artistic practice, while representing something in the artistic knowledge production process with the specific means of art. In essence, the Kunstraum Lakeside exhibition program tests whether the model of artistic research can be employed productively in a discussion process, which tackles fundamental issues in contemporary society.

Annual topic — A Sense of Relatedness

“After all, what is a thing, or indeed a person, if not a tying
together of the lines—the paths of growth and movement—of all
the many constituents gathered there?”
Tim Ingold

“We need to cultivate a bit of anthropomorphism —the idea that
human agency has some echoes in nonhuman nature—to counter
the narcissism of humans in charge of the world.”
Jane Bennett

“The knowing grows from and is the knower’s skills
of maintaining relatedness with the known.”
Nurit Bird-David

The more microscopically we examine material—and immaterial—objects, the more difficult it becomes to separate them from their surroundings. I am not available without my intestinal flora, without the microbes on my skin, without the electrical impulses in my brain, or the histories of my family, my milieu, my address… Where do I begin and where do I end? What is the nature of the borders between organic and anorganic bodies? And what happens when these different entities collide? Which forces form this encounter and how do they affect such an event?

In its 2022 annual program A Sense of Relatedness, Kunstraum Lakeside investigates an array of different types of relationships: The focus is connecting lines, entanglements, alliances, networks, or kinships and their underlying mechanisms; it explores encounters between the human and nonhuman, between the material and immaterial, between the organic and technical, and, last but not least, between places and times. Global networking and mobility within social, political, and economic structures, above all, give rise to variable life models and practices, which renew and extend themselves, in turn, to cultivate new conventions. Despite this rather positive viewpoint on global manifestations of relationships, the elements of the mutual references remain multipartite, fragmentary, almost hard to grasp and chaotic. The whole becomes a more than just the sum of the individual parts, a chain of disparate elements, a configuration whose force continually assumes a new form due to the shifting relationships of its constituents. In the annual program A Sense of Relatedness, Kunstraum Lakeside traces the ubiquitous longing for a sense of clarity, comprehensible entities, and predictable outcomes, and contrasts it with images that consider the incomplete, diverse, and volatile—they are not images of the either-or but of the as-well-as.

Dates

Three production days are available for the realization of each “Statement”. These three days include both setup and dismantling at Kunstraum Lakeside. The Kunstraum will be open to the public on one of the three days. Please choose the best two dates for you from those available as listed below:

– Statement #19: June 21, 2022 (production dates, June 20 – 22, 2022)
– Statement #20: June 28, 2022 (production dates, June 27 – 29, 2022)
– Statement #21: January 19, 2023 (production dates, January 18 – 20, 2023)
– Statement #22: January 26, 2023 (production dates, January 25 – 27, 2023)

Application

Applications must be sent per email by January 31, 2022 (midnight) to office(at)lakeside-kunstraum(dot)at, to the attention of Lea Lugarič. The documents should be submitted as a single PDF file with a maximum size of 10 MB. The application must be written either in German or in English. Only complete applications will be accepted. Please include the following documents:

– Description of the content of the planned project, maximum two A4 pages;
– Visualization of the project and description of the technical equipment;
– Budget (Kunstraum Lakeside provides 1000 euros of production funding per “Statement”, including fees, travel, and accommodation expenses);
– Brief summary of career path / background (artistic or otherwise).

Floor plans, photos, technical equipment and display elements available at Kunstraum Lakeside can be downloaded here.

Jury and decision

The jury consists of Klaudija Sabo (cultural and image studies scholar, University of Klagenfurt), Piera Nodari (K3 Film Festival, Villach), Gudrun Ratzinger (art historian and curator, Vienna), Franz Thalmair (curator, Kunstraum Lakeside, Klagenfurt), and Lea Lugarič (curatorial assistant, Kunstraum Lakeside, Klagenfurt). Applicants will be informed of the jury’s decision in writing by the end of March 2022.

Competition conditions

With the submission of a “Statement”, the applicant acknowledges the competition conditions. The jury bears sole responsibility for the selection of the artistic positions participating in the 2022 program at Kunstraum Lakeside. The jury’s decision is final.

Contact

Lea Lugarič | Curatorial assistant
Phone, +43 664 83 99 305
Email, office(at)lakeside-kunstraum(dot)at

lakeside-kunstraum.at