Maria Wolkonskaja - Die Vorläuferin
Einzelausstellung mit Recherche-Reise nach Irkutsk/Sibirien im Dezember 2018
Solo exhibition with research trip to Irkutsk/Siberia in December 2018
Kunstraum "pro arte" Hallein
Aus dem Zyklus / From the Cycle: 'Lost To Regain'
Please scroll down for the english version
In fiktiven Tagebuchblättern (auf historischem Zeichenpapier, Mitte 19. Jahrhundert)
und in Form von Wandtexten inszenierte ich in dieser Ausstellung das erste Kapitel
des Werkzyklus 'Lost To Regain'.
Ausgehend von der historischen Lebensgeschichte der Maria Wolkonskaja
(1805 - 1863) erzählte ich bisher "Unbekanntes" aus ihrer Biografie:
Maria Wolkonskaja, war als sehr junge und frisch vermählte Frau ihrem Mann
nach Sibirien in die Verbannung gefolgt (historisch), ein hartes Leben
erwartete sie. Eines Tages bekam sie von einem Schamanen der Nomaden einen
besonderen Zauber (fiktiv). Durch diesen sollte sie bei ihrem Tod in einer
nächsten Person weiterleben können und derart also unsterblich werden.
Bei ihrem Ableben jedoch stellte sich heraus, dass nicht sie in ihrer
Nachfolgerin weiterlebte, sondern nur ihre Erinnerungen wurden vererbt.
Dieser Zauber, einmal in Gang gesetzt, ist nie mehr zu stoppen.
Alle weiteren Nachfolgerinnen tragen also die gesamten Erinnerungen
ab Maria Wolkonskaja in sich.
Innerhalb der Ausstellungszeit reiste ich für eine Woche ins vorweihnachtliche
Irkutsk, jene Stadt, in der die Wolkonskijs die letzten Jahre ihrer Verbannung
verlebten. Ich besichtigte ihr Wohnhaus, verfolgte ihre Spuren ― denn bis heute
wird sie dort als Heldin verehrt. Zum einen wegen des Muts, die Verbannung mit
ihrem Mann zu teilen, zum anderen, weil sie das Kultur- und Bildunswesen von
Irkutsk und Umgebung entscheidend bereichert hat.
Ich schrieb Blogbeiträge von der Reise und sendete Bildmaterial in die Ausstellung,
nach meiner Rückkehr brachte ich Reiseskizzen in die Galerie und berichtete von
meinem Aufenthalt.
In fictional diary pages (on historical drawing paper, mid-19th century) and in the form of wall texts,
in this exhibition I staged the first chapter of the work cycle 'Lost To Regain'.
Based on the historical life story of Maria Wolkonskaja (1805 - 1863), I told previously "unknown" facts from her biography:
Maria Wolkonskaja had followed her husband into exile in Siberia as a very young and newlywed wife (historical). One day she received a special spell from a nomad shaman (fictional). Through this spell, she was supposed to be able to live on in a next person when she died and thus become immortal.
When she died, however, it turned out that it was not she who lived on in her Replacement, but only her memories were inherited. This magic, once set in motion, can never be stopped again. So all further Replacements carry the entire memories from Maria Wolkonskaja inside.
Within the exhibition period, I traveled for a week to pre-Christmas Irkutsk, the city where the Wolkonskajas spent the last years of their exile. I visited her home, retraced her footsteps—for to this day she is revered there as a heroine. On the one hand because of her courage to share the exile with her husband, on the other hand because she had decisively enriched the cultural and educational life of Irkutsk and its surroundings. I wrote blog posts from the trip and sent visual material to the exhibition. After my return I brought travel sketches to the gallery and reported on my stay.
Based on the historical life story of Maria Wolkonskaja (1805 - 1863), I told previously "unknown" facts from her biography:
Maria Wolkonskaja had followed her husband into exile in Siberia as a very young and newlywed wife (historical). One day she received a special spell from a nomad shaman (fictional). Through this spell, she was supposed to be able to live on in a next person when she died and thus become immortal.
When she died, however, it turned out that it was not she who lived on in her Replacement, but only her memories were inherited. This magic, once set in motion, can never be stopped again. So all further Replacements carry the entire memories from Maria Wolkonskaja inside.
Within the exhibition period, I traveled for a week to pre-Christmas Irkutsk, the city where the Wolkonskajas spent the last years of their exile. I visited her home, retraced her footsteps—for to this day she is revered there as a heroine. On the one hand because of her courage to share the exile with her husband, on the other hand because she had decisively enriched the cultural and educational life of Irkutsk and its surroundings. I wrote blog posts from the trip and sent visual material to the exhibition. After my return I brought travel sketches to the gallery and reported on my stay.