What is the past, present and future of women as artists? This question is the starting point of a questionnaire and the resulting magazine – developed by the Austrian artist Sira-Zoé Schmid – which serve as a basis for this exhibition. The localization of the artists in art history that still (consciously) marginalizes female positions is being analysed as well as current artistic practices and desiderates of female art production. The exhibition combines the topics raised in the magazine and questionnaire with a selection of works by the 27 artists involved in the project. The works shown represent the respective artists and their working methods in content, form and medium. The broad spectrum of contemporary female positions – ranging from painting, photography and video to installation and performance – creates a connection between production conditions and contemporary practice and links at the same time the various artistic positions.

One focus of the selection of works is the variety of topics and contents with which the artists are currently concerned: an engagement with the social role of the artists as well as their working conditions and formal analyses in the respective media. Based on Schmids project that is designed as work-in-progress, the exhibition is intended as a (fragmented) inventory of female art production. An extensive supporting programme – including artists‘ salons and performances, panel discussion, talks and an art education programme for children – accompanies the exhibition and emphasizes the network character of the project. The processuality of the project reflects the constantly changing prerequisites of artistic work – the questions posed by Schmid also retain their validity in the analysis of future parameters of female art production.

Co-Curators: Veronika Rudorfer and Sira-Zoé Schmid