29 June 2007 – 14 October 2007

Dream and Trauma

The collection Dakis Joannu, Athens

MUMOK, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Hofstallungen
In collaboration with the "Deste Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athens"


The place where trauma originates is a non-place, indicating a breach between consciousness and perception. Within trauma, reality manifests itself with a direct intensity as a symbolic wound of existence. Sigmund Freud defined trauma as, “an experience which within a short period of time presents the mind with an increase of stimulus too powerful to be dealt with or worked off in a normal way". And so the subject represses the traumatic, and not freely accessible, experience, which then continues to enter into consciousness, taking a detour via dreams and nightmares. An “aesthetic of trauma” depicts forms of pain, of fear and injury that are often inscribed into the body, showing the wound of being and the injury of the existential. It visualises inner states of being and de-ranged perceptions of reality. It discovers an art that visualises what is repressed and rejected - and hence also liberates desires, cravings and dreams associated with distress.

The exhibition Dream and Trauma is shown on two locations: In Kunsthalle Wien the focus of the exhibition is on three-dimensional works, drawings and photographs. In the darkened rooms of the Hofstallung [Imperial Stables] of MUMOK an exhibition of works that visualise mainly the dark side of human existence can be seen.
Dakis Joannou ranks among the most significant collectors of contemporary art in the world today. For the past thirty years the Greek businessman has trusted in his unfailing intuition regarding the great artists of tomorrow. Mr Joannou is the originator of the Deste Foundation Centre for Contemporary Art in Athens.

Participating artists:
Paul Chan, Nigel Cooke, Gregory Crewdson, Olafur Eliasson, Urs Fischer, Anna Gaskell, Robert Gober, Matt Greene, Cameron Jamie, Dorota Jurczak, William Kentridge, Tim Noble/Sue Webster, Chris Ofili, Kristine Roepstorff, Jim Shaw, Cindy Sherman, Nari Ward, Poka Yio, Ralf Ziervogel a.o.

Curators: Edelbert Köb (MUMOK), Gerald Matt and Angela Stief (Kunsthalle Wien)

Address

KUNSTHALLE Wien
MuseumsQuartier Museumsplatz 1
1070 Wien
phone +43 1 521 89 12 01
http://www.kunsthallewien.at

Opening Hours

Daily 10 a.m. - 7 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m. - 10 p.m.

"project space" at the Karlsplatz.

Within 10 days
starting exhibitions
ending exhibitions