Ines Doujak, Edith Payer – EKO 9 Triennale of Art and Environment

EKO 9 Triennale für Kunst und Umwelt
Eyes in the Stone  

Altes Sanatorium
Tyrševa uli ca 19, Maribor

17. Mai-28. Juli 2024
Eröffnung: Freitag, 17. Mai 2024, 19:00

Künstlerischer Leiter: Jure Kirbiš
Künstlerische Beiräte: Dominika Trapp (Ungarn) und Markus Waitschacher (Österreich)

„From folktales and the origins of modern horror in literature and film to contemporary art forms, the horror genre has always possessed the potential to address human and societal fears. With the exhibition Eyes in the Stone, we give power to the primary emotion of fear to jolt us from our numbness to seemingly failing warnings of science. The artists in the exhibition respond in form and narrative to the threatening atmosphere in nature and culture. In the new venue of the EKO Triennial – the old sanatorium of Dr Mirko Černić in the centre of Maribor – we present artworks which through use of shock, a sense of dread, disquiet and despondency, as well as critical reflection, offer a chance at catharsis in the face of environmental collapse. The old sanatorium, a modernist villa and its surrounding garden, becomes a metaphor for home. If we think of Earth as our home, then this is a house that is haunted. Freak weather events, mass extinctions, fires and floods, earthquakes, it’s as if the planet is waging revenge on its inhabitants. When moving out of this house or an exorcism is not an option, we must learn to dwell with these restless spirits. We enter this haunted house, this planet terror in order to understand and to make peace with the troubled spirits our presence on Earth has awakened. Come with us. If you dare. (…)“