Temporary exhibition

Fort Biennale 01. In the body of language

Time period

06. July – 10. November 2024

Artists

Altınstark, Özlem Altın, Ellinor Aurora Aasgaard & Zayne Armstrong, Gianfranco Baruchello, Alighiero Boetti, melanie bonajo, Alexandra Cárdenas, Max Castlunger, Carlfriedrich Claus, Roberta Dapunt, Tracey Emin, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Sylvie Fleury, Julia Frank, Chiara Fumai, Siggi Hofer, Hannes Hoelzl, Roni Horn, Brigitte Kowanz, Sophia Mairer, Beatrice Marchi, Nadja Verena Marcin, Maurizio Nannucci, Bruce Nauman, Masatoshi Noguchi, Sunny Pfalzer, Caroline Profanter, Egon Rusina, Toni Schmale, Berty Skuber, Lawrence Weiner, Karin Welponer, Jörg Zemmler

Curated by Ulrike Buck and Margareth Kaserer

About the exhibition

In the Body of Language Im Körper der Sprache Nel corpo del linguaggio describes in three languages an environment that is explored with this art biennial and at the same time the state of our existence in the impossibility of separating the spiritual from the physical. Even if language is ultimately limited to a translation of inner experience and cognition, the communicable part of our experience and understanding of the world can be expressed in it. Language is a means of participation and has revolutionary potential. It builds worlds within us and around us, creates connections and demarcations. At the same time, it is alive and in constant motion – it reflects the political and social upheavals of our time.

For the first edition of the Fort Biennale at Fortress of Franzensfeste, curators Ulrike Buck and Margareth Kaserer have invited artists of different generations from the region and far beyond to explore the diverse dimensions of language in identity and body politics, digital, human, interspecies and non-linguistic communication: Installations by melanie bonajo, Toni Schmale and Özlem Altin, among others, will be shown in the expansive stone vaults. We move from the nest of our mother tongue into the nets of sisterly (elective family) bonds and are reminded to show empathy and awareness for the fragile things that surround us. Fear is met with transformation. While Alexandra Cardenas and Nadja Verena Marcin teach the algorithms feminism, Beatrice Marchi, Sophia Mairer, Karin Welponer and Egon Rusina take us on fantastic journeys through landscapes and bodies. In addition to contemporary works and projects specially produced or selected for the Biennale, works from recent art history from the Museion collection will be on display, including works by Tracey Emin, Roni Horn, Alighiero Boetti and Brigitte Kowanz. The exhibition will be accompanied by a programme of music, performances, workshops and readings, as well as a biennial book designed by the Venetian art book publisher bruno.

Situated on the trans-Alpine Brenner Pass, different languages and cultures have always come together at the venue of the Fort Biennale. This linguistic diversity inspired the theme of the Fort Biennale 01: ‘In the body of language’, the former architecture of control becomes an incubator for immediate and improbable sensual encounters and synergies. If language has a body, it also has cells, organs, nerve tracts, synapses, lips and teeth.