The project is structured around ideas of a return to materiality and a new physicality, inviting viewers to reflect on the comparison between Art Nouveau and contemporary trends in art. The exhibition brings together Russian and European artists studying at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts in a narrative of the poetic production process, unfolding within the walls of a technical paper factory.

The modern technological context creates a situation in which the boundaries between the physical and virtual worlds are blurred. We live in a world of image worship, where information and events are transformed into a compilation of multicultural fragments, personalized and recommended by social media and Pinterest algorithms. These features become a kind of default background for any work of contemporary art.

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Art Nouveau emerged as a reaction to the changes brought about by the industrial revolution. Drawing inspiration from nature, Art Nouveau abounded with floromorphic motifs with organic forms, contrasting with the industrial realities of the city. This style sought to unite art and life, embodying itself in architecture and design with characteristic curved lines, floral ornaments, and their combination with technical elements and graphic design.

Just as Art Nouveau artists reflected on the industrial revolution, contemporary authors largely reflect on the digital revolution. Their practice reveals certain similarities in techniques and artistic approaches that problematize the categories of uniqueness, the natural and the man-made, as well as manual and intellectual labor, along with generation and reproducibility.

Joakim Hyldebrandt

Reflex

Reflex