08.07. – 05.11.2017
21er Haus
Arsenalstraße 1
1030 Wien
for happiness – an absurd promise? An exhibition at the 21er Haus sets out to
explore this subjective, elusive feeling and scrutinizes conceptions of
happiness.
the basic human emotions. We all certainly strive to achieve this state in one
way or another. But situations and things that make one happy are often not so
easy to come across – usually we experience them unexpectedly and by ourselves.
It is upon this personal pursuit of happiness that this exhibition has set its
focus.
different perspectives and comes at the right time. With their works, these
artists encourage the questioning of our habitual ideas of happiness and the
discovery of new facets of the concept of being happy,’ said Director General
Stella Rollig.
with instructions for happiness. Philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle,
Epicurus, and Pythagoras dealt with the subject. Today, there are many life guidebooks
and self-help literature who promise to satisfy our need for self-optimization;
for wherever a need exists, there will be products made to satisfy that
particular lack.
also promises such ‘instructions for happiness’. Naturally, the curators were
aware that there can be no simple solutions to complex problems when they
crafted the exhibition title precisely to satirize all that self-help
literature. Still, this group exhibition attempts to broach the phenomenon from
a variety of perspectives, finding happiness lying hidden within the
interpersonal, the immediate, and the everyday, just like the beauty of little
things. The show also reflects on the direct impact of art on society and
questions the limits of the aesthetic field.
established themselves in the 1990s as artistic strategies, which would always
produce new and unique results with each individual execution. Instructions for Happiness updates this
art practice. It is about art as a means of recognizing ourselves in the world
and about interacting directly with a work to transform our behaviour in
everyday life. The exhibition thus offers visitors a space for experience, so
that they may get a little bit closer to their own happiness.
participating artists demand that visitors follow instructions, to react to
set-up situations, to use objects, or to interact with others. Other works
abstain from the call to participate, but invite us to reflect on our everyday
spaces. ‘The perspectives, which are very different in form and content,
reflect the diversity of viewpoints that artists – like society in general –
have on being happy,’ Severin Dünser and Olympia Tzortzi have summarized.
Arrangements that vary in form and content mirror the diversity of perspectives that the artists – as much as society in general – hold towards being happy. Just as with interpersonal relationships, immediate encounters or everyday situations, happiness may also hide in appreciating the beauty of the little things. The exhibition reflects art’s impact on society and seeks the boundaries of what it can do. Visitors are invited to explore ideas of happiness and to thereby also find their own answers.
With works by Anna-Sophie Berger, Keren Cytter, Heinrich Dunst, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Christian Falsnaes, Barbara Kapusta, Rallou Panagiotou, Angelo Plessas, Maruša Sagadin, Hans Schabus, Socratis Socratous, Jannis Varelas, Salvatore Viviano und Anna Witt
Curated by Severin Dünser and Olympia Tzortzi.
Arrangements that vary in form and content mirror the diversity of perspectives that the artists – as much as society in general – hold towards being happy. Just as with interpersonal relationships, immediate encounters or everyday situations, happiness may also hide in appreciating the beauty of the little things. The exhibition reflects art’s impact on society and seeks the boundaries of what it can do. Visitors are invited to explore ideas of happiness and to thereby also find their own answers.
With works by Anna-Sophie Berger, Keren Cytter, Heinrich Dunst, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Christian Falsnaes, Barbara Kapusta, Rallou Panagiotou, Angelo Plessas, Maruša Sagadin, Hans Schabus, Socratis Socratous, Jannis Varelas, Salvatore Viviano und Anna Witt
Curated by Severin Dünser and Olympia Tzortzi.
Arrangements that vary in form and content mirror the diversity of perspectives that the artists – as much as society in general – hold towards being happy. Just as with interpersonal relationships, immediate encounters or everyday situations, happiness may also hide in appreciating the beauty of the little things. The exhibition reflects art’s impact on society and seeks the boundaries of what it can do. Visitors are invited to explore ideas of happiness and to thereby also find their own answers.
With works by Anna-Sophie Berger, Keren Cytter, Heinrich Dunst, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Christian Falsnaes, Barbara Kapusta, Rallou Panagiotou, Angelo Plessas, Maruša Sagadin, Hans Schabus, Socratis Socratous, Jannis Varelas, Salvatore Viviano und Anna Witt
Curated by Severin Dünser and Olympia Tzortzi.
Arrangements that vary in form and content mirror the diversity of perspectives that the artists – as much as society in general – hold towards being happy. Just as with interpersonal relationships, immediate encounters or everyday situations, happiness may also hide in appreciating the beauty of the little things. The exhibition reflects art’s impact on society and seeks the boundaries of what it can do. Visitors are invited to explore ideas of happiness and to thereby also find their own answers.
With works by Anna-Sophie Berger, Keren Cytter, Heinrich Dunst, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Christian Falsnaes, Barbara Kapusta, Rallou Panagiotou, Angelo Plessas, Maruša Sagadin, Hans Schabus, Socratis Socratous, Jannis Varelas, Salvatore Viviano und Anna Witt
Curated by Severin Dünser and Olympia Tzortzi.
Arrangements that vary in form and content mirror the diversity of perspectives that the artists – as much as society in general – hold towards being happy. Just as with interpersonal relationships, immediate encounters or everyday situations, happiness may also hide in appreciating the beauty of the little things. The exhibition reflects art’s impact on society and seeks the boundaries of what it can do. Visitors are invited to explore ideas of happiness and to thereby also find their own answers.
With works by Anna-Sophie Berger, Keren Cytter, Heinrich Dunst, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Christian Falsnaes, Barbara Kapusta, Rallou Panagiotou, Angelo Plessas, Maruša Sagadin, Hans Schabus, Socratis Socratous, Jannis Varelas, Salvatore Viviano und Anna Witt
Curated by Severin Dünser and Olympia Tzortzi.