Ceramics in Gmunden

From the primordial mother to the dismembered body

Maria Kulikovska with hands and flesh-like ceramic pieces(Bild: Wolfgang Spitzbart)

The current exhibition "Radical Feminine" is the next highlight at the new Kunsthaus Blaue Butter in Gmunden: the focus is on the female body in ceramic art. On display are primeval mothers and radical positions in contemporary art.

Lovely, transfigured or fragmented by the male gaze? The "Radical Feminine" exhibition in Gmunden takes up a familiar theme: The abuse of the female body in art as muse and model. And the relegation of female artists to "sweet" art genres such as ceramics.

But now enough is enough!
Women artists who no longer work so sweetly with clay and glaze are being brought before the curtain. "Strong female positions determine the departure and the breaking up of established conventions," say the curators Genoveva Rückert and Veronika Schreck (Landes-Kultur GmbH). With selected exhibits, they span the arc from one of the oldest known depictions of women to important positions from the 20th century to the present day. Icons of feminist art such as Kiki Kogelnik are also represented.

A different view of the body and gender
In the present, the visual language is sometimes clear: Maria Kulikovska, for example, shows female, dismembered body parts made of ceramic. Linda Luse deals with the roots, critically questioning our interpersonal relationships, the way we treat our environment and nature.

Around 20 female artists create fantastic new narratives of femininity, humanity and coexistence with their ceramics. To this end, they humorously deconstruct dogmas, disrupt, destroy, reassemble, transgress boundaries and radically reinvent ideas of the feminine.

Info: Until October 13, Wednesday to Sunday, 1 to 7 pm, Kunsthaus Blaue Butter, in the Kunstquartier Gmunden