>> In Suspense <<
Albeit Unintentionally
—Rather Acrobatic

Poster project
May until September 2020

With artworks from:
Veronika Hauer, Roman Klug, Zita Oberwalder, Keyvan Paydar,
Erwin Polanc, Christina Helena Romirer

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Until autumn this year, <rotor> will be showing works by artists on both sides of the entrance portal every three weeks. At the same time, the poster series is the prelude to an exhibition in the < rotor > premises, which will be opened to the public in September. In addition to the artists mentioned above, other protagonists of the Graz and Styrian art scene will participate. Furthermore, works from the art collection of the City of Graz will be included in the exhibition.

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“To be in suspense is to hold your breath. And to look
with as much attention as possible at what is simply there,
at what offers itself to you in the presence of things.”
The French psychoanalyst and philosopher Anne Dufourmantelle (1964-2017) offers us this formulation in her 2011 book Éloge du risque (engl. In Praise of Risk, 2019). In one of the brief chapters, which is titled “In Suspense”, she advocates that the interim state itself be appreciated: “Suspension is not the arrested time that comes before something else happens; it is the event itself”.

The aforementioned book by Anne Dufourmantelle is one of the sources of inspiration for the project presented here. She refers to tight-rope walkers and trapeze artists, among others, and their ability to “attempt this miracle of suspense out on the wire”. “Taking the risk of being in suspense is rather acrobatic,” concludes Anne Dufourmantelle. And this is also an ability that is demanded of people in view of the uncertainties and unpredictability that accompany the current situation: to be—albeit unintentionally—acrobatic.

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#6 Poster set
Christina Helena Romirer
fortune cookies or a contemporary oracle
2020

The poster series at the < rotor > entrance portal is completed by
Christina Helena Romirer. For her photos, she positioned ceramic objects next to a building that forms a strong contrast to the house in which < rotor > is located. The ceramics made by the artist bring a completely different aesthetic into play. They are in the shape of fortune cookies, inside they shimmer in different colors. Will our future be just as bright?

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#5 Poster set
Keyvan Paydar
KREISKRISE [CIRCLECRISIS]
2019-20

The two posters designed by Keyvan Paydar play with perception from far and from near. From a distance, the two motifs look precise, as if drawn with a compass. Seen up close it looks different. The unusual carrier material becomes recognizable, and these are napkins in different colors on which the artist has painted. In the original they are small and fragile.

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#4 Poster set
Zita Oberwalder
Hastings | Kew Gardens
from the series Warning Signs
2018

The current poster duo was designed by Zita Oberwalder. She relates two photographs that were taken during a stay in England. While one scene was taken on the English Channel and is blown by the wind, the other picture captures the dense atmosphere in a historic greenhouse. When taking these black and white photographs, the artist worked with an analog medium format camera.

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#3 Poster set
Roman Klug
"gefühlsecht" – an emoji diary
April 2019 : April 2020

Since March 2019, Roman Klug has been painting an “emoji” every day that reflects his current emotional state. This emotional self-assessment builds on the current, inflationary use of emojis in social media communication. The artist contrasts the use of the predefined symbols with an individual visual language that is inspired by Far Eastern calligraphy. Now it has become particularly interesting to compare the days from one of the last months with the previous year.

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#2 Poster set
Erwin Polanc
from the long-term project Mago Über Verritt
2020

These two posters are works by Erwin Polanc. They are part of an extensive series of photographs entitled Mago Über Verritt, on which the artist has been working since 2014. Seeing and perceiving things are the central subject of this work. Motives that are as different can then relate to one another as it is the case here.

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#1 Poster set
Veronika Hauer
from the piece speech is to be looked at
2015/2020

The poster sets will change every three weeks, starting with a contribution by the Graz based artist Veronika Hauer. Her two images are extractions of a work titled speech is to be looked at. There, the artist shows us various drawings that can be easily assigned to a concept. In doing so, she demonstrates how cognitive processes work and how people strive to relate and pigeonhole everything around them. But here it is not the hands that one would expect in this particular setting.

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