Kunsthall
Stavanger is proud to present Inner Life, an exhibition of works by
the Austrian artist Kiki Kogelnik. The exhibition focuses on a
particularly prolific period in Kogelnik’s life, during the 1960s
and 1970s, when she was working alongside Pop artists such as Andy
Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Claes Oldenburg in New York. Kogelnik,
well known for her distinctive style, bright color palette, and close
relationship to second-wave feminism, employed a variety of media in
her investigations into politics, social critique, the space age, and
the human body. Her practice resonates with current gender and body
politics, technological and cyborgian investigations and concerns.
Her works continue to be as relevant today as when they were first
created.

The
exhibition, which includes several works that have not been on view
since the 1960s, emphasizes Kogelnik’s explorations in technology
and newly available materials, and her concerns regarding the
containment and objectification of women’s bodies. At the center of
the exhibition are several sculptural works, most notably 7th Avenue
People (1986), Four
Groups of People (ca.
1986), and Mono (ca.
1970). Tracing the bodies of friends and family, Kogelnik utilized
their measurements to produce flat but colorful vinyl bodies hung on
clothing racks, effectively commenting on the commodification of the
body. Inspired by the racks of clothing being rolled down the street
outside her studio in Manhattan’s fashion district, the bodies,
highly artificial, draped on their hangers like empty skins, allude
to a cybernetic future where bodies can be taken on and off.

Kogelnik—way
ahead of her time—explored physical abilities extended through
mechanical elements built into the body, exemplified by Human
Spare Part (ca.
1968)—a polyurethane arm connected to a phone handle, and Plug-in Hand (ca.
1967), to which an electrical plug is attached. These works hold an
eerie relevance today, with the current quest for integrated hardware
and software on and inside our bodies. Furthermore, Kogelnik renders
the effect of reproductive technology on women’s bodies by
repetitively depicting the distinct shape of the DialPak—the round
contraceptive-pill dispenser developed in the 1960s. Examples include
the paintings Red
Scissors (1964),
Gee Baby – I’m
Sorry (1965),
and Green
Hand (1964), a
mixed-media collage on a baking tray—a nod to what was at the time
considered by many to be women’s work. Chandelier
Hanging (1970),
a pink clip drying rack hung with small vinyl women’s bodies,
further emphasizes her frustration with gendered divisions of labor.

On
prominent display is the installation Seelenwasche (Soul
Laundry) (1992), shown here for the first time since 2003. At the
center of the work is a washing machine, which is uninterruptedly
cleaning black, white, and grey vinyl bodies, before they are
hung to dry on clotheslines. Washing as a ritual is strongly rooted
in our culture as a purifier of both the body and soul. Here,
technology—the machine—enables a sped-up cleaning process for our
times. The washing machine further acts
as a metaphor for the womb, as does the film Untitled
(Floating) (ca. 1964), which
shows Kogelnik herself floating, evoking the weightlessness of
both the womb and space.

The
technological developments of the space race were a major influence
for Kogelnik. This is apparent in her paintings, which often depict
bodies floating in space, as well as elements of spaceships and
planets. In Self Portrait (1964),
her body is seen floating, ripped in half, with a rocket adorned with
a K, her first initial, in the background. On the occasion of the
moon landing in 1969, she staged a “moonhappening” at Galerie
Nächst St. Stephan in Vienna, inviting people to watch the live
televised event while she produced prints depicting the first words
uttered by the astronauts as they walked on the moon. A film
documenting the event is on view in the exhibition (Moonhappening,
1969), as is documentation of several street performances that
Kogelnik carried out in Vienna and New York (Strassenbilder
Wien, 1967, and New
York Street Performance, 1967). In
both Vienna and New York, Kogelnik carried cut-out
polyurethane
foam
bodies on clotheslines or attached
to her own body throughout the cities.

A
prevalent motif in Kogelnik’s work is the outstretched hand, often
reaching for the sky, or “touching” the artworks. Hands have been
a frequent symbol
throughout art history (traced hands were the earliest artwork
recorded in cave paintings from forty thousand years ago). Kogelnik’s
versions seem to represent the hands of the artist, as if still
composing, effectively adding a second layer to the works. The making
of the works seems frozen in time—or still ongoing.