Lutz Dammbeck at the interface between art and film
Who are the enemies of modernism? In 1993, paintings by Austrian artist Arnulf Rainer (1929-) were vandalised at the Viennese Art Academy. On one of the paintings, an altered quote by Adolf Hitler was made to read: “And this is where he decided to become an actionist”. A mysterious intervention, the vandalism set out to mirror Rainer’s own practice of painting over other artists’ works. Claims of responsibility emerged, seemingly from an obscure clique of Viennese right-wing intellectuals, the contemporary avant-garde. In a letter sent to the press, they challenged the very tenets of modernism for accommodating the dissolution of national traditions. Others suspected Rainer himself of being responsible for the incident.
Dammbeck’s investigation delves deeper into the fringes of conflicting facets of 20th century art, its ideologies and histories, informing the emergence of what today is often called the alt-right.
Location: 353 Interactive Cinema Space, Arts West Building 148 Royal Parade, Parkville VIC 3052
Four screenings of Lutz Dammbeck’s documentary tetralogy Art and Power, curated by Giles Simon Fielke and Nicolas Hausdorf, in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut and the University of Melbourne.
Event series: Art and Power
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