The exhibition Ins Dunkle schwimmen presents contemporary art that explores the shaping of the individual into a creative subject.  It asks for continuations and deconstructions of the hopes that modernism placed in art as a supposedly authentic expression of inner life and in creativity as a tool for improving living conditions.

Today, self-actualization and self-expression are among the foundational components of entrepreneurial professionalism in much of the world.  “Self-actualization,” or doing the things that make you (figuratively?) burn with passion, is likewise a part of the idealized image of a successful life that is widely disseminated on social media. As coping strategies often present only individualized self-care rather than communal care solutions, and as ecological, social, and political crises escalate, relations of (self-)exploitation take on ever more existential significance.

As “self-designers” par excellence, artists have been the prototypes of the creative existence that has now become a job requirement for all members of society. The exhibition Ins Dunkle schwimmen gathers works of art that deal with these contradictory demands in the context of artistic production, encountering abysses and limits in the process. It features works that inquire into the conditions of the production of the self, explore the relationships between artistic production and work on one’s own life, and search for exit strategies from the instrumentalization of the pathos of creativity and freedom.

Further information on the exhibition:

https://kunstsammlungundarchiv.at/en/collection-art-architecture-design/projects/ins-dunkle-schwimmen-ausstellung/

Exact address: Schönlaterngasse 5, Staircase 8, 1st floor, 1010 Vienna