<< Gärtnergasse

Coins, Eggs and Pills

Lucia Elena Průša and Dan Vogt

16 November – 14 December 2018

invited by Julija Zaharijević

photos by Raphael Reichl

For the exhibition​ Coins, Eggs and Pills ​ artists Lucia Elena Průša and Dan Vogt have transformed Gärtnergasse into a round room. They have replaced all the corners by one continuous curve. A closed curve can take three different shapes.

Průša and Vogt have created a large-scale sculpture that encompasses the entire exhibition space. They have worked collaboratively to create a place free of corners, expanded as much as physically possible for its container of origin. Its fullness is visible through the cracks between exterior and interior—windows and door frames. The persistence and stubbornness of the curve called for the closing off of the path to the back rooms of ​ Gärtnergasse. ​ The only remaining way to access these is through a short detour out of the exhibition space, past the parking lot and into the building’s back entrance. The separation of the rooms is further pronounced with the vague and indistinct voices coming from the opposite rooms, serving as a subdued live audio element of the exhibition. The glimpses to the back of the sculpture reveal small slices of the negative space—which isn’t always physically accessible—serving as a counteract to the undisrupted elypse stretched out in the main exhibition space. It’s these inaccessible nooks and crannies that run this machine, you know.

The circle as a form is often used to imply or introduce a more democratic aspect to group dynamics and leadership (think of sitting in circles as an alternative to frontal lectures, AA meetings and help groups, round tables, or the fact that if I wanted to hold hands with Průša and Vogt at the same time we would have to form a circle). This work is inherently concerned with people, their movements, their spatial presence and absence and finally—with just how used to corners we all actually are.

— Julija Zaharijević