Aska, Asmat, Dan

Locations are defined, to a high degree, by events, actions or people who transcend the mental outer barriers of a community. The exhibition entitles Aska, Asmat, Dan, taking the example of the first voyages made by Gert Chesi – an ethnologist from Schwaz – in the 1960s to Central Africa, deals with varying approaches to cultural differences. Early travel photos are on view in the Visual Show Case: pictures of clay huts, temple grounds, and everyday situations. These early reports are juxtaposed with images from his later journeys, which document an altered perception and changed relationship towards those cultures. Two artists’ projects inspired by the photographs of Gert Chesi are displayed, whose central theme is the combination of these experiences with contemporary propositions: cultural identity, upholding of traditions, the influence of Western Civilisation, sharing of experiences. Cultural differences become starting points for discussions whose implementation feeds into exemplary narratives or research into concrete phenomena.

Aleksandr Sokurov’s film, Humble Life, tells the story of a Russian traveller who upon his frequent travels to Japan progresses from merely sorting out the differences between his own and the foreign culture to a differentiated behaviour in dealing with this alien country.

Roy Villevoye developed an installation for the exhibition which is based upon collaboration with the Asmat tribe of Papua New Guinea. Orchestrated photographs, billboards, and T-shirts attest to a very personal experience. Villevoye does not shy away from interfering with the cultural structures, albeit briefly, in order to claim for his own work the same artistic liberty that is taken for granted in Europe.

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Curated by Martin Janda