Freedom was an episode (tbc)

On March 5, 2020, the exhibition “Freedom will have been an episode” opened at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York. The show examined subtle forms of surveillance and the erosion of freedom in Western, capitalist societies through neoliberalism and its digital psychopolitics using striking artistic positions from Styria. In new works created for the exhibition, the artists analysed the status quo and, as a consequence, visualized a possible future.

The exhibition was on display for less than ten days, as the coronavirus pandemic led to the closure of cultural institutions and, from March 20, the whole of New York went into lockdown. The restrictions on freedom and open forms of surveillance and control that then took place worldwide in the name of security far exceeded all expectations and have permanently changed societies. Rifts within society have widened, two wars on the outskirts of Europe and the effects of climate change have posed additional challenges to national communities, and the rise of nationalist ideologies and far-right tendencies that fantasize about border fortifications, remigration and measures for disagreeable citizens threaten the foundations of democratic communities. Was freedom an episode?

Five years after the show in New York, the exhibition attempts to take stock of the current socio-political situation with new works by Austrian artists.

Participating artists: Günter Brus, Maria Legat, Barbis Ruder, Evamaria Schaller, studio ASYNCHROME, Hans Weigand, Josef Wurm, zweintopf, and others.