And if I devoted my life to one of its feathers?

Artists: Babi Badalov • Denilson Baniwa • Patricia Belli • Amoako Boafo • Anna Boghiguian • Victoria Cabezas • Quishile Charan • Manuel Chavajay • Chto Delat • Rosa Elena Curruchich • Annalee Davis • Vlasta Delimar • Jim Denomie • María Galindo & Danitza Luna • Nilbar Güreş • Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe • Hiwa K • Karrabing Film Collective • Germain Machuca • Daniela Ortiz • Prabhakar Pachpute • Amanda Piña • Roldán Pinedo / Shöyan Sheca • Sandra Salazar • Victoria Santa Cruz • Olinda Silvano / Reshinjabe • SPIT! (Sodomites, Perverts, Inverts Together! / Carlos Maria Romero, Carlos Motta & John Arthur Peetz) • Sophie Utikal • Cecilia Vicuña • Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro • Anna Witt • Bartolina Xixa • Santiago Yahuarcani • Zapantera Negra • …

A joint exhibition of Kunsthalle Wien and Wiener Festwochen

“And if I devoted my life to one of its feathers?” writes the Chilean poet, artist, and activist Cecilia Vicuña in an untitled poem from the late 1960s/early 1970s. With this question Vicuña counters anthropocentric and hetero-patriarchal urges with healing and appreciation, reviving the aesthetic and spiritual bonds between human and non-human entities and worlds.

In keeping with these aspirations, the exhibition curated by Miguel A. López, reflects on the rationale of exploitation, the fast-paced mining of raw materials, and environmental destruction as a colonial legacy. It tells the story of Indigenous struggles for collective survival and celebrates encounters defined by solidarity in their resistance to misogyny, imperialist violence, and state oppression. Some of the contributions are a specific response to the Covid-19 pandemic – not just as a health crisis, but also as one of ecological and social justice.

And if I devoted my life to one of its feathers? combines works by more than 35 artists from around the world, located everywhere from the Amazon region to Australia, from Guatemala to India. Their works seek not only to awaken public consciousness to the realities of environmental exploitation and destruction, but also to question and to deconstruct traditional Western patriarchal models, gender roles, and enduring colonial and racist discourses.

Indigenous epistemologies are understood as central in order to explore the possibilities of interweaving the poetic gesture with radical political action. The joint exhibition of Kunsthalle Wien and Wiener Festwochen invites its visitors to take part in a unique conversation about power, sovereignty, self-representation, and the reclaiming of a plurality of life choices.

Miguel A. López (b. Lima in 1983) is a writer and researcher living and working in Lima. His work investigates collaborative dynamics and transformations in the understanding of and engagement with politics in Latin America in recent decades, as well as feminist and queer re-articulations of history from a Southern perspective.

Any admission ticket to a production of the Wiener Festwochen 2021 or Festwochen 2020 reframed entitles the ticket holder to the discounted admission price of EUR 2 to this exhibition.

For more information about our education program and scheduling inquiries, contact us at vermittlung@kunsthallewien.at