Elisabeth von Samsonow: HORSES' GLORY

Catalogue Presentation GENERAL PRACTICE: Tue, Aug 04, 18:00
Performance CENTAUR’S SIREN SONG: Fri, Aug 14, 16:00
with Elisabeth von Samsonow and Tamara Stajner as part of the Street Art Festival CALLE LIBRE
Location: ArtBox, MQ Main Courtyard
Admisison free

“The horse is: engine and basic drive, wild table, anonymous mother, prototype, bio-apparatus, allegory of the girl, imperial animal, cuddly toy, colonised, commanded, non-human and cyborg.”

The installation makes reference to the history of the MuseumsQuartier, which once served as the court stables (planned by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, commissioned by Emperor Charles VI. in 1713). The so-called Spanish Stable was one of the largest royal stables in which – according to the famous Eipeldauer letters by Joseph Richter from the late 18th century – the horses’ “lodgings were more beautiful than those of the emperor himself”. Today, artworks “live” in the stable.

The installation by Elisabeth von Samsonow pays homage to the horse. The horse as a phantom of the museum and cadavre exquis – the skeleton of Empress Elisabeth’s favourite horse – is encircled by the dance of Elisabeth von Samsonow’s horse sculptures. KINETEN KINO, a looped video on the front side of the Art Box addresses the topic of the mysterious-romantic relationship between horses and girls.

Catalogue presentation Elisabeth von Samsonow: GENERAL PRACTICE, Schlebrügge editor Wien 2015

Video HORSE’S GLORY with support by Bundeskanzleramt Kunstsektion

Curated by Elisabeth Melichar
<link http: www.elisabethzeigt.at>www.elisabethzeigt.at

Image: © Elisabeth von Samsonow