Traces of a lifespan
Parallel 2021, Semmelweisklinik, Newborn Nursery
Gelassenheit ist die schönste Form des Selbstbewusstseins, curated by Nora Mayer
Washbasins with soap dispensers, veneered office desks, 90s colour accents and the retarded writing "Serenity is the most beautiful form of self-confidence" tell of the past life of the newborn nursery. The selected works interweave, lock and conceal themselves in this place and expand the history of the space with, among other things, images of intimacy, narratives about unusual collection deposits and past lives, sketchy approaches to landscape or sculptural explorations of materiality.
In Ursula Gaisbauer's work, the artistic examination of the exhibition site culminates in the poetic connection of the beginning of life with its end. In her in situ work Traces of a lifespan, she stages the winding table as a set box in which found everyday objects and personal items leave traces of a past life. In collaboration with a neighbourhood curiosity shop, among others, the artist places found objects there and asks what remains at the end of a life?
Text by Nora Mayer
Fotos by Robert Faßler and Nathan Cha