Affectionate Terms of Abuse

Let's talk about Fuck. Shit. Asshole. Arschloch. Sau. Kurac. Möse. Dick. Fat.
Swearing is the most intriguing of the magical uses of language. Virtually every culture has their unique set of swearwords. Whatever is taboo in a culture, whether faeces, sexuality, incest, death or animal names become a source of foul language.

The exhibition Affectionate Terms of Abuse deals with this topic. Artists that were invited to participate, fequently or seldomly incorporate text and words in their art. The word becomes an independent visual medium and functions as communicative interface between the written word and its artistic design. The show explores the limits of bad language. The exhibition is focused on the presentation of artworks from the realms of performance, painting, graphics, photography, collage, sculpture and installation.

For example Gotovac, Delimar, Anzengruber, Merklein, frustracиja. or Capan use words such as KURAC, DICK, FAT, MÖSE or SAUTROTTEL to indirectly criticize the political system, forms of economy, social grievances, the art world and consumerist society. A poetic connection in terms of image- and word-language can be seen in the works of Nein and Martek. However, Baumüller manages to consciously foil this level and presents a (primitive) dispute on an interactive and repetitive platform. How to play with words in visually perceptible object configurations is a recurrent theme in Alexander Viscio's conceptual artistic work.

The second room of the gallery is structured as a small library. In poems, typograms, novels, visual texts and sculptural objects different methods and divergent approaches are presented by Weiner, Gotovac, Stošić, Morbin or Mangelos and Harold Pinter / Gorgona. Part of the open library will feature books on the subject of "vulgar language" and “words”. Visitors are invited to take the books from the shelves and read them on the spot.
Many of the books are from the collection of Dr. Heidi Fazekas.

BAD WORD DISCO & PERFORMANCE: 14.09., 18 h
Participative Performances with frustracиja. & Patrick Baumüller