Another Tomorrow

Slought is pleased to announce Another Tomorrow: Young video art from the collection of the Neue Galerie Graz am Landesmuseum Joanneum, on display from November 7-December 3, 2008. The opening reception will take place on Friday, November 7, 2008 from 6:30-8:30pm, with remarks by curator Günther Holler-Schuster and Dr. Christa Steinle, Director of the Neue Galerie. The exhibition features work by Erwin Wurm, Christina Tsilidis, Norbert Trummer, Katrin Plavcak/Johanna Kirsch, Anita Witek, Barbara Caspar, Martin Kaltner/Thomas Baumann/Josef Dabernig, Michael Gumhold, Klaus Schuster Flora Neuwirth, Pfaffenbilchler/Schreiber, Claudia Larcher, Derek Roberts, Anja Manfredi, Ruth Brozek, Leopold Kessler, Susanne Schuda, Katharina Copony, Lia, Constanze Ruhm, Franz Kapfer, reMI, Markus Gansberger / Armin Purkrabek, and Annja Krautgasser.

This exhibition is an attempt by the Neue Galerie Graz to provide a key outline of an important segment of its extensive video collection. The young–and very youngest–positions in Austrian video art have been brought together here in an exemplary summation of the work now being done in the field. Since the Neue Galerie collection is essentially aligned to an exhibition programme, two focal exhibitions that represent a kind of parenthesis or framework ought to be mentioned in this context, both in terms of content and formal discussion. One of these was the first-ever extensive international video art exhibition, entitled "audiovisuelle botschaften" (audio-visual messages) of 1973, held as part of the Graz "trigon" series. Video works by people such as Bruce Nauman, William Wegman, Vito Acconci, and Robert Morris were seen for the first time in Austria back then. The other defining exhibition was "Postmediale Kondition" (Post Medium Condition) of 2005/2006 with Peter Weibel, Christa Steinle, and Elisabeth Fiedler as curators. This was shown both in Graz and in Madrid (at ARCO). Both of these events underscored the importance of new media for the Neue Galerie and its active participation in the development occurring within this sector.

The exhibition provides insights into the mechanisms of image perception today against the backdrop of film. The separate positions here exhibited speak for themselves by each posing their own detailed questions. They are inseparable from the developments of technological progress and are closely linked to the development of social power structures. This has found clear expression in very recent times through various strategies for dealing with the visual. While the exhibition "Another Tomorrow" makes formal reference to both TV (monitor presentation) and cinema (with projections on a large scale), the individual positions extend far beyond this limiting framework in being committed to the "post medium" condition.