translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville,
070708: CharimGalerie: Christoph Schlingensief
CharimGalerie: Christoph Schlingensief
Jesus on the drip
“Fear is power! Fear is our trigger! No leader, no God will lead you” – this is the ‘Church of Fear’s’ credo. The artist Christoph Schlingensief founded the ‘Church of Fear’ in 2003 during the 50th Venice Biennale; in the meantime it has more than 100 member communities. A miniature edition of the Caribbean-style church is for sale for 10.000 euros and is one of the objects presented at the exhibit in Vienna. A large part of Schlingensief’s display at the CharimGalerie is unusually market conformist, except for the installation “Little Shrine”, which shows videos of Lady Di’s and Dodi Al Fayed’s last hours, reconstructed as a kind of actionist bout.
Schlingensief displays photographs, which are based on some of his former projects, among them the photo series “Horror-house Holmur”, or the house of “not administrable obsessions” on Iceland, where the famous “Animotograph” was employed for the first time. The Passion (of the Christ) is performed by disabled people and based on the opera “Freaks”. At first the large-scale presentation of these pictures makes them seem bold and cynical. Jesus is on the cross and on the drip, surrounded by Lilliputians. Schlingensief’s answer would be: in any case political correctness is factitious.
The centrepiece of the exhibit is the arrangement “The king lives inside of me”. The film, which was shot in Nepal, is presented in six open fireplaces with photos placed over them in light boxes. Depictions of the evisceration of slaughtered animals, a Hindu cremation, a sleeping mendicant, an aging Nepalese waving and smiling into the camera, views of a surgery, and of Schlingensief wearing a white colonial ruler’s suit in the midst of Nepalese brick workers, constitute the images of the installation. The dominating topics encompass religions and rituals, exploitation, as well as sickness and death. Despite the cosy open fireplaces, Schlingensief’s work remains to be what it always has been: uncomfortable.
CharimGalerie
1010 Vienna, Dorotheergasse 12, until 31. 07. 08
www.charimgalerie.at
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070708
Charim Galerie
1010 Wien, Dorotheergasse 12
Tel: +43 1 512 09 15, Fax: +43 1 512 09 15 50
Email: info@charimgalerie.at
http://www.charimgalerie.at
Öffnungszeiten: Di-Fr: 11-18h
Sa: 11-14h
Charim Galerie
1010 Wien, Dorotheergasse 12
Tel: +43 1 512 09 15, Fax: +43 1 512 09 15 50
Email: info@charimgalerie.at
http://www.charimgalerie.at
Öffnungszeiten: Di-Fr: 11-18h
Sa: 11-14h