Volksgarten. The Politics of Belonging

Quite interested in the subject, may be because I have been in London for six years, or because I sound less and less French by the minute, or may be just because so many of my favorite artists are featured in the show.

How long does one have to live in a place before qualifying as a local? What are the signs of belonging and what aspects of integration are identifiable?

The exhibition Volksgarten. The Politics of Belonging is happening in the immediate vicinity of the Kunsthaus Graz. The aim is to paint an all-inclusive portrait of the city districts of Lend and Gries, on whose common boundary the Kunsthaus Graz is located. By virtue of their ethnic and social variety, the two districts encompass a demographically interesting space right around the Kunsthaus Graz and also around the exhibition.

The exhibition, titled after the park of the same name, is a stage on which the theme of social space is addressed and challenged at many levels. The artists taking part are applying themselves to the special circumstances of the districts and reporting their perceptions either as general statements in Space02 of the Kunsthaus Graz or in the form of participation projects directly within the two city districts.

Co-production with steirischer herbst



Pierre Huyghe, Streamside Day, 2003
Videostill; courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris



Gordon Matta-Clark, Chinatown Voyeur, 1971
Courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York; Picture: © Sammlung Generali Foundation, Wien



Thomas Hirschhorn, Concept Car, 2007
Courtesy Galerie Arndt & Partner, Berlin



Jean-Luc Moulène, Produits de Palestine, 2002-2007
Courtesy of the artist & Galerie Chantal Crousel; Picture: © Jean-Luc Moulène – ADAGP



Özlem Sulak, Granny, 2005
Courtesy of the artist


Stephen Willats, The Twin Towers, 1977
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Thomas Schulte



Participating artists:
Participating artists: Airline / Switzerland, Pawel Althamer / Poland, Bik van der Pol / Holland, Maria Papadimitriou / Greece, Daniel Roth / Germany, Thomas Hirschhorn / Switzerland, Manfred Willmann / Austria, Los Carpinteros / Cuba, Ozlem Sulak / Turkey, Helmut & Johanna Kandl / Austria, Absalon / Israel, Gordon Matta-Clark / USA, Stephen Willats / UK, Sharon Lockhart / USA, Pierre Huyghe / France, Jean-Luc Moulene / France, resanita / Austria