24/7 2020, 6 pm
Eva Egermann Hold me tight!
Central Garden / Danube Canal, 1020 Vienna
"Hold off, but hold me", 2020
Banners and posters with texts by Ianina Ilitcheva in various locations in Viennese public space
Locations and duration:
Karlsplatz, 1040 Wien, in cooperation with Kaleidoskop 2020. Fragmente, July 15, 2020
Mariahilfer Straße 1b, 1060 Vienna, from July 15, 2020
Central Garden, 1020 Vienna, from July 24, 2020
In her research-based and collaborative practice, Eva Egermann (b. Vienna in 1979, lives and works in Vienna) revisits activist movements, various subcultures, and diverse artistic expressions. In her works and interventions, Egermann dismisses binaries such as healthiness/illness, disability/ability or vulnerability/strength as constructions designed to shape life. Her engaged artistic practice persistently aims at renegotiating the real.
For KISS, Eva Egermann has created wall posters and banners for public space, which are displayed in several locations throughout the city. The works pop out of unexpected surfaces. They are designed using an unexpected font. The intriguing poetic slogans they feature expound on relationality, hedonist desire, and cosmic connection.
The texts are originally Twitter posts and passages of poetry by the Uzbek-Austrian author Ianina Ilitcheva (1983–2016). Ilitcheva (@blutundkaffee) went into self-isolation for half a year in 2015. Opportunity and curse at once, the self-isolation paradoxically became a space and time where she could explore touch, encounter, and interdependence. Eva Egermann puts these texts in dialogue with her own photographs, documenting her hospital visits and the Berlin Mad and Disability Pride Parade in 2019. The artist creates a zone of contact and association. She brings words and images from an intimate sphere to the public, from the screen to the street, from Times New Roman to Comic Sans — one of the few fonts that are easily readable for dyslexic people. Personal recordings, notes and thoughts appear as a mirror of shared desires and political utopias, which celebrate interdependence and reciprocal cautiousness.
With kind support of Central Garden & Le Salon du Smog
Text references for Ianina Ilitcheva
„Halt dich fern, aber halt mich.“
Ianina Ilitcheva, @blutundkaffee (page 104), 2017 (Frohmann)
„ich sehe die einsamkeit vor mir und sie ist leicht.“
Ianina Ilitcheva, ich sehe die einsamkeit vor mir und sie ist leicht, 2018 (hochroth München)
„Ich will Berührung. Ich will, dass meine Hand sich verflüssigt und du sie trinkst. Ich will tun, was Regen tut.“
Ianina Ilitcheva, @blutundkaffee (95), 2017 (Frohmann)
„Halb Mensch, halb Mensch.“
Ianina Ilitcheva, @blutundkaffee (65), 2017 (Frohmann)
„Baby, halt mich jetzt ganz fest, denn ich habe eine Handgranate verschluckt.“
Ianina Ilitcheva, @blutundkaffee (3), 2017 (Frohmann)
„Nachtmeer, nightmare“
Ianina Ilitcheva, 183 Tage, 2015 (Kremayr & Scheriau)
„Wenn mich jetzt einfach jemand halten könnte. Mich festhalten, damit ich nicht explodiere. Die Spannung wie ein Blitzableiter von mir nehmen, meine Energie in den Boden lenken, damit ich frei durch die Wolken gehen kann.“
Ianina Ilitcheva, 183 Tage, 2015 (Kremayr & Scheriau)
Picture credits
WAGEN ZUM AUSRUHEN
NO ACCESS NO PEACE
DysLexics Untie
CURE ALL NEUROTYPICALS NOW!
Fresst Eure Pillen selber
WEGLAUFHAUS
(Alle / all Mad Pride Parade Berlin 2019, Fotos / photos: Eva Egermann, 2019)
Krankenhausessen, Eva Egermann, 2019
Haltegriff, Eva Egermann, 2011
Wartezimmer, Eva Egermann, 2011