A Matter of Fact/A Fact of Matter?

A Matter of Fact/A Fact of Matter?

July 3rd -10th, 2022

Opening Reception: Sunday, July 3rd from 4pm - 6pm

Finissage Reception: Sunday, July 10, 4pm - 6pm

Curated by: Karin Maria Pfeifer and Sula Zimmerberger

Artists: Caitlin Blomstrom, Kosuke Kawahara, Lola Pfeifer, Karin Maria Pfeifer, and Sula Zimmerberger

A Matter of Fact/A Fact of Matter? explores how reality is concretized, materialized, and experienced. Works by Caitlin Blomstrom, Kosuke Kawahara, Lola Pfeifer, Karin Maria Pfeifer, and Sula Zimmerberger take stock and examine reality in a tactile, sensory, social, and theoretical way. Reality is understood as a space in both the figurative and the concrete sense where human experiences take place.

Spaces —and reality —cannot be defined without boundaries. If the parameters change, our subjective perception of space and reality changes. This also points to how much can be experienced outside of what is usually perceived as just four walls.

One may also question the representation and authenticity of spaces: What is actual reality? Where does it materialize? Where can it be experienced? How much does space need people or do people need space? And, with all these questions, the boundaries of those very spaces are also drawn into the conversation: Can space and reality function without borders?

As the Belgian artist Marcel Broodthaer sees it, contextualizing spaces is a theoretical area where one can play. If the borders shift, and the spaces change, then there are new spaces to play with — the subjective perception of these changes.

In this context, physical spaces interact with psychological play spaces. For example, when rooms and places are emotional, we have associations and memories attached to them. If these living spaces change — as when a loved one is lost — then the perception of the space also changes and is reflected as a new subjective feeling. These psychological exceptional situations from euphoria to depression question the perception of our reality, and its scope.

A Matter of Fact/A Fact of Matter? sets the tone: Are conditions really as they seem? Is the definition of a space and thus of reality something immutable, chiseled into our human habitat? Or can something be set in motion? Is it possible to look at the matter of these spaces more flexibly than usual, and to question how much this reality really is a "matter of fact"?

In the end, the artworks in this show display different logics of space, reality, and matter. The works are not concerned with coming to a final conclusion concerning the validity of reality and space but are more interested in questioning them.

This project was supported by:

Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Public Service and Sports

Austrian Cultural Forum New York

City of Vienna Culture

A public program of artist talk & guided tour will take place during the finissage reception on Sunday, July 10 at 5PM.

Image credit: Lola Pfeifer, sweeter than expected, 2022, glass, sand, and marzipan, various dimensions; image courtesy of the artist.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ KUNSTRAUM's programs are supported, in part, by Art in General and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.