Gernot Wieland
Past, Present, Present, Past (2019)
Lecture-performance

Gernot Wieland, Past, Present, Present, Past, 2019, lecture-performance, Congress Graz, photo: Mathias Völzke

Gernot Wieland, courtesy the artist and Belmacz Gallery, London
Gernot Wieland’s diagrams illustrate some of the basic concepts of his lecture performance, held as part of steirischer herbst’s Opening Extravaganza. Both here and there, he examines the Austrian predilection for culinary delights and easy living as an expression of repressed feelings of guilt, hate, and powerlessness. One of his heroes is the prophet Jonah. In Wieland’s lecture, he appears as a Monty Pythonesque figure, ridiculous through and through. In many ways, he resembles a child oppressed by his mother and father who might become a serial killer out of frustration, as the first diagram shows. The second diagram elaborates this basic structure into a broader field of repression—sequences which generate the desires and symbolisms that define reality.
19.9.19, 21:00
Opening Extravaganza
Duration: 40 min.
Congress Graz, Stefaniensaal
Albrechtgasse 1
8010 Graz
♿ Venue accessible for wheelchairs
In English
Free admission with Festival Pass
No single tickets, no reservations, no late admission
Commissioned and produced by steirischer herbst ’19
Translation German to English: Gernot Wieland
Proofreading: Maxwell Stephens
Gernot Wieland (1968, Horn, Austria) is an artist working with text, video, and lecture-performance. His work is based on memories and their narration, and weaves historical facts together with personal histories to create a sense of the uncanny. Wieland lives in Berlin.