migration_standards

The Austrian Cultural Forum in Washington, D.C. currently shows migration_ standards, an exhibit that is part of a series focusing on young contemporary art that seeks to foster dialogue between artists from Austria and Washington, D.C. and has been realized in cooperation with the Viennese gallery bäckerstrasse 4 - platform für junge kunst.

Bäckerstrasse 4 provides aspiring artists with a platform to introduce themselves and show their works. migration_standards, following the first part of the series, urban_landscapes, which was on display in Washington during fall 2011, takes the visitor away from the urban landscapes and into the world of migration. Four different artists combine photography, video, and sculpture into a unified presentation, offering different approaches to and aspects of migration and the structural changes that result from the redistribution of power and property.

“The artists here were selected because of the thematic and formal relevance of their artwork. The exhibition focuses on questions regarding the structural framework of migration, its social conditions, various aspects regarding the formation of new spaces (both ideological and real), and related topics such as space, mobility, and the expansion of cities into the surrounding countryside,” explained Silvie Aigner, curator of migration_ standards.

The artists collaboration on migration_standards include Jessica van Bakle, a native of Bethesda, Maryland, Borjana Ventzislavova of Sofja, Bulgaria, Judith Sauper from Feldkirch, Austria, and Lina Vargas De La Hoz, born in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. Jessica van Brakle’s drawings and Lina Vargas de la Oz’s Mobile Housing in particular emphasize the aspects of mobility and the expansion of cities, while Judith Saupper’s photo series addresses the need to escape uniformity, the fear and isolation felt in anonymous cities, even if only to a single-family home in the so-called suburbs.

Borijana Ventzislavova, together with Mladen Penev, created In the name of, documenting the cultural codes that separate us based solely on physical appearance and dress.

migration_standards will be on display in the atrium of the Austrian Embassy in Washington, D.C. until April 15, 2012.