22 May – 22 June
Never At Home, Funkhaus
With works by: Arvida Byström, 2050+ and The Institute for Postnatural Studies
Curated by: Carmen Lael Hines and Clara Grillmaier
Produced by: Nina Zips and Vera Grillmaier
My Body Is A Temple is an exhibition of three site-specific installations conceived at the intersection of arts and critical technology studies. Each work takes histories of biomedical visualization as a broad starting point to propose speculative visions of how technology shapes visual and spatial conceptions of internal bodies. The title takes inspiration from a digital mantra often associated with #selfcare. It is a phrase of Christian biblical origin, later adapted into a slogan for body-optimization products—often gendered—attached to maintaining the sanctity of what a “functional” body means. Linguistically, My Body Is A Temple suggests something architectural, something one can step inside. As a phrase, it illustrates conceptions of bodies as communicated via technologies of representation—in this case, media.
In this exhibition, we enter three bodies. These bodies are not necessarily fully human, nor necessarily related to internal medicine as a science. Each work, conceived in response to the architectural design of the FUNKHAUS, explores speculative and critical views on the technologized-flesh continuum. Here, binaries designating human/machine/animal are dissolved, and internal flesh is understood as something technologically rendered and expanded through speculative spatial experimentation. In the work of Arvida Byström, we enter the vulva of an automated sex doll, programmed to reach orgasm through data collected from human-machine intercourse. With the Institute for Postnatural Studies, we enter the stomach of a whale, whose sound has been extracted by advanced military technologies for use in spa soundscapes. With 2050+, we inhabit the stomach of a cow, whose biomes will be harvested for synthetic meat production on a global scale.
The FUNKHAUS, Austria’s oldest broadcast network, stands as a historical artefact for histories of technology, media, and the mass network of listeners—and, by extension, their ear canals. It is an emblem of how technologies of media collapse conceptions of the individualized human body into an entangled assemblage of interconnected subjectivities. The works in this exhibition invite us to consider the body as a porous, technologically mediated constellation—one we not only gaze upon but experience as space.
Thursday, April 24 – Sunday, May 4
Exhibition & Performances
Thursday, April 24
Exhibition Opening
18:00 – 23:00
More info soon
As a conclusion to the symposium BUILDING COMMUNITIES – Cooperative Use of xVacant Spaces, Kreative Räume Wien will visit current temporary use projects in Vienna, including Never At Home.
Note: As part of the Creative Days organized by the Vienna Business Agency, there will be another opportunity to visit Never At Home. On May 14, between 11 AM and 3 PM, we will once again open our doors for a guided tour of the winning projects of the Creatives for Vienna – Making Spaces competition.
Featuring works by a selection of our in-house artists:
