Maria Petschnig

What is it? This question, linked to the perspective of the voyeurs, applies to all of Maria Petschnig’s works in moving images, which focus on images of the body in very diverse forms. Vasistas shows a series of photographs found at flea markets, depicting spaces that are both come alive and become significant as a result of performances in fetishistic costumes. While Petschsniggle deals with a relationship to a twin sister in claustrophobic and highly intimate settings, the space stacked full of trash in C. becomes an indicator of the protagonist. Who that protagonist is, and what is actually taking place, ultimately remains unclear, but Petschnig creates a bizarre and sexually charged atmosphere akin to that of horror movies film that is hard to resist. This show also includes Near the Big Chakra, a completely sober presentation of 37 vaginas in large-scale close-ups, and Hard to Say When, a video that shows a forceful way of coming to terms with the end of a relationship. (Dietmar Schwärzler)

Film Program

Maria Petschnig, Vasistas, 2013, 5 min
Anne Severson (Alice Anne Parker), Near the Big Chakra, 1971, 17 min
Maria Petschnig, Petschsniggle, 2013, 7 min
Saul Melman, Hard to Say When, 2008, 10 min
Maria Petschnig, C., 2014/2015, 28 min

Book presentation & conversation after the screening with Maria Petschnig & Dietmar Schwärzler

Maria Petschnig lives in Brooklyn, NY. She is a video and performance artist. Numerous international exhibitions, most recently Anthology Film Archives, NY (2015), Random Institute, Zurich (2015), Image Movement, Berlin (2015). In 2014, she was awarded the Austrian state scholarship for video and media art.

Dietmar Schwärzler lives in Vienna and is a curator, film and media presenter and member of staff at sixpackfilm.