Where do we go from here?

Secession, Vienna

“Where do we go from here?” A lot like the statement “Everything is going to be alright,” how that question is understood and reacted to will say a lot about the person reading it; the optimists will be separated out from the pessimists very quickly.

Taking its title from Dr. Martin Luther King’s last book Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community, this newest exhibition in the “Junge Szene” series at Vienna’s famous Secession poses this question and its possible interpretations though the presentation of works, most of which were made specially for the exhibition, by around 30 young artists. Fully aware of the broad interpretations of its own question, the exhibition narrows its focus into the increasing demands of flexibility and mobility made on young artists to establish their careers and the development of Eastern European society since the fall of Communism. Additional consideration is given to the problematic discussion of the idea of a collective “we,” which here should be understood as the idea of a “community of artists” as well as reflecting on recent political theory by writers such as Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt that calls for a “new community” in opposition to the dominant neo-liberal world order.

You won’t be asked to cast your vote for ‘chaos’ or ‘community’ by dropping a ball in a jar on the way out, but you might learn something new about your companions.

July 2 – Aug 29, 2010 at Secession, Friedrichstraße 12, A-1010 Vienna – just a 20 minute walk from White Line Hotels’ favourite hotel in Vienna – the Hollmann Beletage. Check them both out, why don’t you.

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Contributing writer: Melissa Frost