LINDA CHRISTANELL

Curated by Rhea Tebbich and Berthold Ecker

Künstlerhaus presents Linda Christanell, one of the pioneers of the feminist avant-garde. The artist is a long-standing member of the association, and this solo exhibition is her largest to date.

In the mid-1960s, Christanell created drawings and paintings that engaged with Cubism, form decomposition, and symbolic abstraction. Even at this early stage, she was part of the avant-garde in Austria. At the end of the decade, she experimented with molded Plexiglas parts, which she combined into idiosyncratic objects, as well as textile and foam objects that she used in conjunction with her own body. For several years, she worked with Renate Bertlmann as the BC Kollektiv. Work with photography and, above all, film became increasingly important and eventually supplanted other media. Early on, she explored the limits of representation, raising central questions about body, gaze, identity, and visibility.

This retrospective will illuminate Christanell's entire early work, up to her films, for the first time. Previously largely unknown film material will be newly restored and presented in cooperation with the Filmmuseum. The juxtaposition with the positions of young female artists reveals the enduring relevance of her work.