Anna Witt / Human Flag
Curated by Luisa Ziaja
28 February – 27 May 2018
Belvedere 21
Arsenalstraße 1
1030 Vienna, Austria
Anna Witt, Flexitime,
2010, Video
installation, 3-channel
HD video, color, audio, 20 min.
2010, Video
installation, 3-channel
HD video, color, audio, 20 min.
Anna Witt, Flexitime,
2010, Video
installation, 3-channel
HD video, color, audio, 20 min.
2010, Video
installation, 3-channel
HD video, color, audio, 20 min.
Anna Witt, Beat
Body, 2016-18, Video
installation, Multichannel
HD video, color, audio, c. 5 Min each.
Body, 2016-18, Video
installation, Multichannel
HD video, color, audio, c. 5 Min each.
Anna Witt, Under
the Pavement, 2016, 12-part
photo-text series, Fine-Art
Inkjet print, Dimension varies
the Pavement, 2016, 12-part
photo-text series, Fine-Art
Inkjet print, Dimension varies
Anna Witt, Under
the Pavement, 2016, 12-part
photo-text series, Fine-Art
Inkjet print, Dimension varies
the Pavement, 2016, 12-part
photo-text series, Fine-Art
Inkjet print, Dimension varies
Anna Witt, Body
in Progress, 2018, Video
installation, 5-channel
4K video, color, audio
in Progress, 2018, Video
installation, 5-channel
4K video, color, audio
Anna Witt, Body
in Progress, 2018, Video
installation, 5-channel
4K video, color, audio
Anna Witt, Body
in Progress, 2018, Video
installation, 5-channel
4K video, color, audio
Anna Witt, Body
in Progress, 2018, Video
installation, 5-channel
4K video, color, audio
Anna Witt, Body
in Progress, 2018, Video
installation, 5-channel
4K video, color, audio
Installation view, Anna Witt, Human Flag, Belvedere 21
Installation view, Anna Witt, Human Flag, Belvedere 21
Installation view, Anna Witt, Human Flag, Belvedere 21
Installation view, Anna Witt, Human Flag, Belvedere 21
Anna Witt, Body
in Progress, 2018, Video
installation, 5-channel
4K video, color, audio
in Progress, 2018, Video
installation, 5-channel
4K video, color, audio
Anna Witt, Body
in Progress, 2018, Video
installation, 5-channel
4K video, color, audio
in Progress, 2018, Video
installation, 5-channel
4K video, color, audio
Anna
Witt’s artistic practice is performative, participatory, and
political. She creates situations that reflect interpersonal
relationships and power structures as well as conventions of speaking
and acting. The Belvedere 21 is showing her first solo exhibition at
a Viennese institution. It consists of three video installations
along with photographs and texts that shine a light on various
aspects of our ideas around “work.”
Witt’s artistic practice is performative, participatory, and
political. She creates situations that reflect interpersonal
relationships and power structures as well as conventions of speaking
and acting. The Belvedere 21 is showing her first solo exhibition at
a Viennese institution. It consists of three video installations
along with photographs and texts that shine a light on various
aspects of our ideas around “work.”
“The
art of Anna Witt stands out for presenting thematic focal points
regarding how we live together; it is a practice in which social,
political, and economic parameters are reflected in ways that enable
them to be experienced and debated. In the context of “Spirit of
68,” this year’s program motto at the Belvedere 21, which is
dedicated to the relevance of the social struggles and achievements
of the sixties movement in the present day, these observations on the
relationship of subject, work, and society appear to have a special
importance,” says Stella Rollig, General Director of the Belvedere
and Belvedere 21.
art of Anna Witt stands out for presenting thematic focal points
regarding how we live together; it is a practice in which social,
political, and economic parameters are reflected in ways that enable
them to be experienced and debated. In the context of “Spirit of
68,” this year’s program motto at the Belvedere 21, which is
dedicated to the relevance of the social struggles and achievements
of the sixties movement in the present day, these observations on the
relationship of subject, work, and society appear to have a special
importance,” says Stella Rollig, General Director of the Belvedere
and Belvedere 21.
Anna
Witt involves passersby in public spaces, or specifically selected
people and groups, into her performative experimental arrangements,
usually in a directly physical way. This forms the basis for her
video installations. The tasks range from repeated imitation of
specifically coded gestures to the development of complex
choreographies, and give the participants opportunities for
individual articulation and authorship. With curiosity and empathy
for her counterpart, Anna Witt explores the borders between the self
and the other and tries to activate the individual’s capacity for
action, which she understands as a prerequisite for community and
society.
Witt involves passersby in public spaces, or specifically selected
people and groups, into her performative experimental arrangements,
usually in a directly physical way. This forms the basis for her
video installations. The tasks range from repeated imitation of
specifically coded gestures to the development of complex
choreographies, and give the participants opportunities for
individual articulation and authorship. With curiosity and empathy
for her counterpart, Anna Witt explores the borders between the self
and the other and tries to activate the individual’s capacity for
action, which she understands as a prerequisite for community and
society.
The
artist describes her basic method as follows: “I make a space of
action available to people, which they can organize themselves.
Verbal and non-verbal articulations then open up spaces where our way
of living together can be thought through and redefined.”
artist describes her basic method as follows: “I make a space of
action available to people, which they can organize themselves.
Verbal and non-verbal articulations then open up spaces where our way
of living together can be thought through and redefined.”
In
recent years, Anna Witt has realized a whole series of artistic
projects on the relationship between the individual, work, and
society. These projects enable us to experience current forms of
subjectivization that are part of daily life and therefore often
invisible. How do we become who we are? What do we do, what do we
believe in, what do we fight for? And how is this social self
connected to visible and invisible mechanisms, norms and rules of our
society? Anna Witt’s first solo exhibition at a Viennese
institution consists of three video installations along with
photographs and text. In addition to the 3-channel video installation
Flexitime (2010), the work Beat Body (2016-18) is being shown for the
first time in a version composed of four video sculptures. These are
supplemented and contextualized by the photo/text work Under the
Pavement (2016). On the occasion of this exhibition, Anna Witt
produced the 5-channel video essay Body in Progress (2018) in the
adjacent urban-development area around the new Vienna Central
Station.
recent years, Anna Witt has realized a whole series of artistic
projects on the relationship between the individual, work, and
society. These projects enable us to experience current forms of
subjectivization that are part of daily life and therefore often
invisible. How do we become who we are? What do we do, what do we
believe in, what do we fight for? And how is this social self
connected to visible and invisible mechanisms, norms and rules of our
society? Anna Witt’s first solo exhibition at a Viennese
institution consists of three video installations along with
photographs and text. In addition to the 3-channel video installation
Flexitime (2010), the work Beat Body (2016-18) is being shown for the
first time in a version composed of four video sculptures. These are
supplemented and contextualized by the photo/text work Under the
Pavement (2016). On the occasion of this exhibition, Anna Witt
produced the 5-channel video essay Body in Progress (2018) in the
adjacent urban-development area around the new Vienna Central
Station.
“In
the exhibition at Belvedere 21 Anna Witt both illuminates the
mechanisms of ascribing value and social position to certain
professions, as well as the meaning of historical gestures and
symbols of collective organized labor in times of radical
individualization. And she explores possible utopias where the
concept of work and life differs from our cycle of constant
commitment and self-optimization,”explains Curator Luisa Ziaja. “Her
approach to given conditions is neither naive nor cynical. Instead,
she tries to elicit small adjustments to our perception and our
actions that open up perspectives for community beyond the dominant
social patterns.”
the exhibition at Belvedere 21 Anna Witt both illuminates the
mechanisms of ascribing value and social position to certain
professions, as well as the meaning of historical gestures and
symbols of collective organized labor in times of radical
individualization. And she explores possible utopias where the
concept of work and life differs from our cycle of constant
commitment and self-optimization,”explains Curator Luisa Ziaja. “Her
approach to given conditions is neither naive nor cynical. Instead,
she tries to elicit small adjustments to our perception and our
actions that open up perspectives for community beyond the dominant
social patterns.”
Detailed
information on the works shown at the exhibition
information on the works shown at the exhibition
Flexitime,
2010
Video
installation
3-channel
HD video, color, audio, 20 min.
Anna
Witt invited passersby in industrial and office zones in Vienna to
take part in her video for a token fee. Their task was to pose in
front of the camera with a raised fist, a gesture which historically
belongs to the workers’ movement. The protagonists were allowed to
decide for themselves how long they held the pose, thus determining
the length of the individual shots. By deciding on the time
themselves, the participants were led into a certain responsibility
as well as the moral dilemma of assessing how much time was
appropriate to do justice to the demands of the task – a dilemma
that is also found in modern, deregulated models of working time.
Beat
Body, 2016-18
Video
installation
Multichannel
HD video, color, audio, c. 5 Min each.
Body, 2016-18
Video
installation
Multichannel
HD video, color, audio, c. 5 Min each.
With
Beat Body, Anna Witt has created a performative monument for the sex
workers on Kurfürstenstraße
in Berlin. She spent some time in the women’s environment and asked
for permission to record their heartbeats. Everyone has their own
individual heartbeat, which creates a portrait that is both very
intimate and anonymous at the same time. The personal soundtrack of
each woman’s heartbeat was transformed into individual
choreographies by professional pole dancers from a nearby nightclub.
Through the strong self-determined physicality of the dancers, the
video sculpture Beat Body becomes a tribute to the women of the
street and emphasizes the value of each individual human being. Beat
Body is being shown as an installation of four video sculptures for
the first time in this exhibition.
Beat Body, Anna Witt has created a performative monument for the sex
workers on Kurfürstenstraße
in Berlin. She spent some time in the women’s environment and asked
for permission to record their heartbeats. Everyone has their own
individual heartbeat, which creates a portrait that is both very
intimate and anonymous at the same time. The personal soundtrack of
each woman’s heartbeat was transformed into individual
choreographies by professional pole dancers from a nearby nightclub.
Through the strong self-determined physicality of the dancers, the
video sculpture Beat Body becomes a tribute to the women of the
street and emphasizes the value of each individual human being. Beat
Body is being shown as an installation of four video sculptures for
the first time in this exhibition.
Under
the Pavement, 2016
12-part
photo-text series
Fine-Art
Inkjet print, Dimension varies
the Pavement, 2016
12-part
photo-text series
Fine-Art
Inkjet print, Dimension varies
The
photo-text series Under the Pavement documents the encounters and
collaboration with the sex workers while the video installation Beat
Body was being created.
photo-text series Under the Pavement documents the encounters and
collaboration with the sex workers while the video installation Beat
Body was being created.
Body
in Progress, 2018
Video
installation
5-channel
4K video, color, audio
in Progress, 2018
Video
installation
5-channel
4K video, color, audio
The
video installation Body in Progress, produced for this exhibition,
was made in the urban-development area around Vienna Central Station
and the Quartier Belvedere. Anna Witt engages with ways of imagining
an optimized world of work and life. Here they are conceptualized
through an analogy between work and work-out. In a 5-channel video,
panoramas and details of the work environment in the area’s hotels,
construction sites, and Erste Campus offices, are interwoven with
shots of athletic interventions into a fragmentary whole. Anna Witt
asked a group of calisthenics athletes to use the buildings and work
areas for their bodyweight exercises. The relatively new
extreme-lifestyle sport of calisthenics is about free body training,
which largely eschews fitness machines and can be performed anywhere,
at any time. One of the most popular and challenging Calisthenics
moves is the “human flag,” in which the extended body is
stretched out
horizontally from a pole. Characteristics such as commitment,
individuality, freedom from rules, and self-optimization –
attributes of our contemporary working world – are symbolically
transferred to the body. There is also textual content, based on the
artist’s conversations with working people on site, which explores
their experiences with work as a power factor and what they
understand that to mean, as well as utopias and reflections on the
network of relationships between the individual, work, and society.
video installation Body in Progress, produced for this exhibition,
was made in the urban-development area around Vienna Central Station
and the Quartier Belvedere. Anna Witt engages with ways of imagining
an optimized world of work and life. Here they are conceptualized
through an analogy between work and work-out. In a 5-channel video,
panoramas and details of the work environment in the area’s hotels,
construction sites, and Erste Campus offices, are interwoven with
shots of athletic interventions into a fragmentary whole. Anna Witt
asked a group of calisthenics athletes to use the buildings and work
areas for their bodyweight exercises. The relatively new
extreme-lifestyle sport of calisthenics is about free body training,
which largely eschews fitness machines and can be performed anywhere,
at any time. One of the most popular and challenging Calisthenics
moves is the “human flag,” in which the extended body is
stretched out
horizontally from a pole. Characteristics such as commitment,
individuality, freedom from rules, and self-optimization –
attributes of our contemporary working world – are symbolically
transferred to the body. There is also textual content, based on the
artist’s conversations with working people on site, which explores
their experiences with work as a power factor and what they
understand that to mean, as well as utopias and reflections on the
network of relationships between the individual, work, and society.
*Photo: Johannes Stoll. Courtesy Anna Witt, Vienna and Galerie Tanja Wagner, Berlin