110509: Kunsthalle Krems: Edgar Honetschläger

Kunsthalle Krems: Edgar Honetschläger – Edopolis Content and packaging It doesn’t happen often that 850 TV channels broadcast a feature about an Austrian artist. But when Edgar Honetschläger launched a completely superfluous product for the Expo in Japan 2005 – clothing for chickens – the media pounced on it. In the accompanying film “Erni”, you can watch a chicken walk through a cliché-filled Vienna accompanied by two Japanese women with a child; the odd quartet ends up being serenaded by the Vienna Boy’s Choir. Compared to his other works “Chickensuit” is based on a rather simple concept: while the ironic view of Vienna does not really come across and the dress-up chicken is not extremely amusing, Honetschläger’s usage of advertising and marketing tools stands out. With his film “Beijing Holiday”, in which the artist and a puppet impersonating Soong Mei-Ling, China’s First Lady before Mao, are the main characters, the artist proves that he can narrate much more complex stories. The same is valid for the “Scent of Snow”, in which three women re-enact a video of a young girl. The story is based on a novel about Prince Genji, who wants to shape a ten-year old girl to an ideal woman. In this film, Honetschläger continuously asks questions and makes comments from the off; this corresponds with Pygmalion-like fantasies of power, just like the sex-scene, which was, however, censored for the version shown in Krems - a concession to the youth protection law. Honetschläger’s work is characterized by shifting between different cultures - something not only evident in his films, but also through his attempt to grasp the relationship between (Eastern) two- and (Western) three-dimensionality. Sometimes drawings substitute film props, and in a colourful series he narrates, with crayons, aquarelles, and graphite, the story of a water goblin, which travels from the boondocks to the city. These pseudo-naive works are really amusing – especially in comparison to the chicken suits. But they were only the content of a marketing gag. Nina Schedlmayer Kunsthalle Krems 3500 Krems, Franz-Zeller-Platz 3, until 14.06.09 www.kunsthalle.at

Mehr Texte von translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville

110509

Kunsthalle Krems
3500 Krems, Franz-Zeller-Platz 3
Tel: +43-2732 90 80 10, Fax: +43-2732 90 80 11
Email: office@kunstalle.at
http://www.kunsthalle.at
Öffnungszeiten: Di - So und Mo wenn Feiertag 10-18 Uhr; in den Wintermonaten 10-17 Uh

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