ÉLODIE ANTOINE
ROSALÍA BANET
WIEBKE BARTSCH
BARBARA BERNSTEINER
TANIA CANDIANI
BARBARA CAVENG
LADA CERAR
ANDREJKA ČUFER
JOCHEN FLINZER
CLAUS FÖTTINGER
ZUZANNA JANIN
METKA KAVČIČ
JUSTYNA KOEKE
MICHAEL KOS
EDUARD LESJAK
MARTIN LÖFFKE
POLONA MAHER
ISA MELSHEIMER
JANET MORTON
ALEN OŽBOLT
SANDRINE PELLETIER
MARIJA MOJCA PUNGERČAR
IRIS SCHIEFERSTEIN
SAŠO SEDLAČEK
CHIHARU SHIOTA
KEI TAKEMURA
ANDRÉ TEMPEL
ANU TUOMINEN
JULIA VAN KOOLWIJK
MARJOLIJN VAN DER MEIJ
PETRA VARL
PATRICIA WALLER
SILKE WAWRO

Barbara Bernsteiner


»i_frozen-dwarfs-time_07«, 2007 (wool, found objects)
»E_tisch 00«, 2007 (wool, found objects)

As a rule, the woollen thread characteristic of the work of Barbara Bernsteiner is grey – and
such it is also in this installation entitled i_frozen-dwarfs-time_07. The special grey tint actually negates the colouring and elevates the form. The functions of various useful objects, which are all covered with the same crocheted pattern, have been abstracted. Together with completely abstract objects, such as crocheted sticks, they are placed in compositions reflecting a high
level of purely modernistic visual language, which enable various contextual interpretations. Nevertheless, Bernsteiner's work contains a highly expressive narrative component. In the work i_frozen-dwarfs-time_07, a pleasant dinner for two has been transformed into a new scene, which is laden with the traumas of everyday routines and misunderstandings, and presented almost as a dreadful image of Dorian Gray. The twisted stalks of wineglasses and cut-off legs of chairs and tables symbolise tragic developments in numerous partnerships – not to speak of
the apple's symbolic value at all. Enchainment. Confinement. Confinement? It may be that the objects covered by the same crocheted pattern are a metaphor for encasement. But beware!
The wall clock, which is also meticulously covered by the crocheted pattern, is still ticking. No matter how much the pleasant memory has been transformed, life goes on and hope remains.

Born in 1959 in Millstatt (Austria). Between 1985 and 1989 she studied psychology at the
Vienna University, and between 1987 and 1993 she studied painting at the Academy of Fine
Arts in Vienna and graduated in 1993. She lives and works as a free-lance artist in Vienna and
Millstatt.

Exhibitions (selection):

2007 Die Kunst der Verführung, Minoritenkloster, Tulln
2006 Crossover, Koroška galerija likovnih umetnosti, Slovenj Gradec
Kemintaidemuseo, Kemi-Art-Museum
forma corporis II, Palais Liechtenstein, Feldkirch
2005 A Little Less at Home, Kunsthof Reichshof, Vienna
2004 Movimenti 1, Künstlerhaus, Klagenfurt
Art Position 2004, Junge österreichische Kunst, Ottakringer Brauerei, Vienna
2003 Das alchimistische Werk, Dokumentationszentrum für moderne Kunst, St. Pölten
2002 One Step Together, Österreichisch-chinesische Kunst, Orangerie Europahaus, Vienna
2000 Kunstverein, Baden bei Wien
1989 Österreichische Galerie – Oberes Belvedere, Vienna
1988 Haus der Industrie, Vienna

www.barbara-bernsteiner.at