Tirol Transfer - krinzinger projekte - Galerie Krinzinger

analyses why in Taiwan, the plaything between
China and the U.S.A., taxis have the
same yellow color that they do in New York.
The people she interviews from local taxi
drivers to the vice-president of the traffic
ministry, to a woman from California living
in Taiwan and a European political scientist,
do not approach a truth but rather relate
their own subjective perspectives.
She has selected the artist Goang-Ming
Yuan who is one of Taiwan’s leading media
artists. His digital photographs lead us into
the metropolis of Taipei. While Chen’s video
addresses the western media presence and
a style of life between Americanism and
regional tradition, Yuan shows one of the
most bustling squares in the city empty,
without any traffic, without any people.
Assembled from countless views of reality
he transforms this into a almost unsettling
hyper-reality in which time stands still, the
rhythm of the city stops pulsating, the flow
of information and advertisement becomes
absurd without consumers. In a strange
way the square once again mutates into an
abstract space of architectural models,
which were already addressed in Raitmayr’s
work. Here, however, the artist is not just
hoping to improve the quality of life but also
to inject new life into structures of communication.
In the metaphorically allusive video by
Judith Hopf who was invited by Siggi
Hofer, a situation that we know from reality
also collapses into something absurd. Like
in many of her other videos, the artist appears
in this video. Here she leads a discussion
in a TV talk show in which she discusses
life with her guest, a dead man. In
her attempt to convey highly theoretical
arguments she increasingly appears overwhelmed
in the course of the discussion,
especially since the person she is talking
to shows no reaction, and the audience
leaves. Communication has failed. Hopf
as a representative of the artists’ guild has
become stranded with her traditional professional
role as a “mediumistic being”.
While Siggi Hofer was initially drawn to
the diversity of Judith Hopf’s artistic work
which not only includes videos, installations,
performances but also electronic music,
Hopf is also involved in politics and art
theory. The South Tyrolean artist appears
in his collages, titled “Run”, as the protagonist
of various scenes. Here is a multiplied,
collective self that is embroiled in war-like
situations with a seemingly idyllic, watercoloured
background. His poses testify to
an ambivalent stance that can oscillate between
euphoria and anxiety. His own persona
becomes representative for many
whose personal history has been altered
by world politics without there being a possibility
for adequate solutions and reactions.
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