Thesis Exhibition 18|19, Vol. II

The exhibition space of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna xE provides a venue for presenting the final works of its graduates twice a year. Displayed in a deliberately experimental arrangement of random juxtapositions, the works are characterized by a wide variety of chosen forms of expression as well as different conceptual approaches and thematic focal points.

Relying on a series of schematic architectural portraits of the Stadionbad in Vienna several objects and a performance Andreas Dvořák traces the history of the Second Workers’ Olympiad (1931). Corinna Claudia Wrana uses installation techniques to create a room-spanning work with differentiated objects, whereas Elisa Alberti’s works interlace different levels of drawings with each other. Lukas Reischauer aka Ponyboy deals in Selbstliebe/Sticheleien with issues of identity and the liberality of state and church, whereas questions of production and coordination of information in the medium of drawing are raised in Oliver Riedel’s works. Wood joints gain in Tobias Pilz installation independence as abstract compositions, which retain tension through its actual functionality and the permanent integration into the questioning of its purpose. There is also a dialectic between Julia Haugeneder’s folded objects, which only reveal certain aspects of their form, and her linocuts that display everything on their surface. Sophie Utikal’s large-scale textile images are sewn by hand and function as extended self-portraits, while Eiko Gröschl's paintings interpret different moods and states of mind.

Seen together, the works from the different departments do not only afford insights into the Academy programs’ contents and practices but also allow the exploration of a wide range of issues prevailing in contemporary art.