Indifference

This conversation between author Diedrich Diederichsen and artist Mathias Poledna marks the publication of Mathias Poledna. Indifference. This book, conceived and designed by Poledna, accompanies his 35mm film installation Indifference (2018), presently on view in the mumok collection exhibition The Presence of History. Poledna’s film continues his exploration of the visual imaginary of modernism, in a montage of short scenes set against the backdrop of the waning days of imperial Austria at the cusp of World War I. It details in elegant restraint the seemingly mundane routine of a single protagonist played by French actor Alain-Fabien Delon. His character—an Austrian officer / aristocrat—is drawn from types common in German-speaking fin-de-siècle literature, as well as from historical dramas and period films produced in the Cold War era. A common thread in Poledna’s work, his film draws from contiguous art practices such as painting and literature, as well as from popular culture, in particular explorations of history in genre and auteur film.

Program

Conversation between Diedrich Diederichsen and Mathias Poledna

Luchino Visconti, Le notti bianche, 1957, 101 min, OV with English subtitles

Diedrich Diederichsen teaches the theory, practice, and dissemination of contemporary art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Most recent publication: Körpertreffer: Zur Ästhetik der nachpopulären Künste (Berlin, 2017). Lives in Vienna and Berlin.

Mathias Poledna lives in Los Angeles. Exhibitions (selection): Made in L.A. 2020 (2021); The Liverpool Biennial (2018); The Renaissance Society, Chicago (2014); Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia (2013).

Further information about the publication here.

This program takes place on the occasion of the exhibition The Presence of History as part of Enjoy – the mumok Collection in Change.