The foreign in the familiar and the familiar in the foreign – such an equation immediately makes it clear what this fall’s international group exhibition at Galerie im Taxispalais in Innsbruck is all about. Even in Austria, the right-wing, populist FPÖ party has won votes and has fought with all its might to become the strongest party in the federal parliament. The exhibition and book address this play on the foreign, which inspires many artists to confront the unfamiliar, for example, to explore unknown terrain, to discover the rules and codes of conduct of different social groups, and to research the historic transformation and the present make-up of areas and places: practices, therefore, that precisely such right-wing parties want to safeguard their supposed clientele from – and are willing to do so with correspondingly drastic methods, as they never tire of emphasizing. In contrast, artists seek to confront these risks, using a huge variety of media, including not only photography but also videos and performances, installations and interventions, along with collecting and archiving practices. This results in a panoramic complexity, with images of the foreign and the familiar likewise visible, because other identities and forms of life are shown and accepted cultural and social principles questioned, which perhaps contributes something to new, relaxed ways of perceiving things. The participating artists are: Martin Brand, Mark Dion, Carmen Dobre, Hans-Peter Feldmann, FORT, Coco Fusco, Sofia Hultén, Sven Hohne, Joachim Koester, Peter Piller, Gillian Wearing, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Anna Witt and Tobias Zielony. Editor Beate Ermacora, Lotte Dinse, Jürgen Tabor Publisher Snoeck Verlag City, Year Cologne, 2013 Text Julia Brennacher, Andrea Brockmann, Lotte Dinse, Beate Ermacora, Roland Girtler, Manon Megnes, Jürgen Tabor, Maren Welsch Language German, English Details Hardcover Pages 160 pages, 110 illustrations in colour Size 24 x 17 x 1.5 cm Weight 643 g The book was published as part of the homonymous exhibition at Galerie im Taxispalais Innsbruck (28.09.–01.12.2013). ISBN 978-3-86442-066-5
