In his solo exhibition “Floating” at Smolka Contemporary, Mario Kiesenhofer presents new works from his ongoing series “Treasure”, which was first exhibited in 2023/24 at the tresor of the Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien and for which he portrayed the queer rave scene in Eastern Europe with a focus on Warsaw.*

In this exhibition, Kiesenhofer celebrates the queer community in Budapest and captures the techno beats with his camera. He shows gem-colored portraits of key figures in the Hungarian scene, framed in shiny chrome frames. Portraits that counter discriminatory narratives of illiberal systems with a queer perspective and create visibility for marginalized identities. Bathed in colored flashlight, Mario Kiesenhofer’s photographs reflect a party culture in which the techno scene of the 1990s is experiencing a revival and at the same time making a highly resistant and political claim. The club becomes an inclusive place of protest and the dance floor a stage for queerness in times of increasing autocratisation.

The exhibition title “Floating” refers, among other things, to the precarious situation of queer people in Hungary and points out that their rights are constantly in limbo, as they are repeatedly threatened by political and social repression. With the rise of illiberal systems and the accompanying queer hostility, as pushed for example by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, queer communities within the EU are facing increasing pressure and hard-won human rights are being systematically restricted.

Mario Kiesenhofer (*1984 in Freistadt, Austria) lives in Vienna and works with photography, video, text and installation. His focus is on the representation and visibility of queer communities and the question of the significance of queer safe spaces in our present. Opaque materials, glass filters, special framing techniques and reflective surfaces are inherent elements in the artist’s oeuvre. Combined with photographs, they create pictorial spaces that are simultaneously tangible and intangible, physical and metaphysical.

* Mario Kiesenhofer’s solo exhibition “Treasure” at the tresor of Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien was curated by Lisa Ortner-Kreil. As part of the exhibition “Floating” at Smolka Contemporary, an artist talk between Mario Kiesenhofer and Lisa Ortner-Kreil will take place.