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SIMULTANEOUS - Two Collections of Austrian Photography

preview by the museum:

"The Museum der Moderne in Salzburg currently accommodates two collections of Austrian photography: one of which is its own property, and the other consisting of work acquired annually by the Viennese Bundeskanzleramt in connection with the Austrian promotion of photography and later passed on as a loan to the museum. Both collections are focused on contemporary events and promote topical photography. Together, they consist of over 16,000 works. In individual chapters, the exhibition throws light on important stations of photography in Austria from these stocks. The contents of the exhibition extend from documentary photography from the post-war period to the work of young artists. In "Actionism", for example, the main artistic figures work in different performative ways on the example of their own and alien bodies' individual and social aggressions, compulsions, desires and obsessions. In "Identity", we are taken on a path along the dichotomy between "true", self-defined identities, and the "false" identities demanded by society, which lead to a visual discourse on the social construction and identity. "Visual Games" is a reflection on the conditions of photography as it functions alone and in a medial context. "Scenario" recalls the world of the stage: the world is portrayed, travelled through, tried out and experienced in a theatrical and cinematographic way. "The Country" is concerned with photographs that work with "Austria", with the past of World War II, with the atmospheres, conflicts and melancholy moods that are part of the daily lives in and between human beings."