Introduction

Karl Karners work is situated at the intersection between the objectuality of sculpture and a more recent order of sculpture set in a social context. While it does not want to instigate further action by itself, it still calls for the active taking part of individuals in the process of realising the artwork.

In Karner’s installations and art environments, viewers frequently become bit players. Such participative impulses accentuate the irony inherent in these artworks. Single elements are taken from Minimal and Concept Art, whereupon their meaningfulness is upgraded and they are used as speculative patterns in reproducible settings. The repetition of recurring motifs references the serial production of industrial objects. In Karner’s work, these motifs are hand-made pieces of cast iron that become part of the artistic process. His preferred motifs are beaked creatures and dogs or hares, often clad with bronze or gold. The fact that they appear in series reminds of Pop Art or Concept Art, but their static nature is broken by the involvement of real people. It would almost seem that these inanimate fantastic creatures are brought to life by the protagonists.

In Karner’s creations, a multitude of tubes injecting or extracting liquid constitute a metabolic system that can, however, only be activated by the viewers or users. To speak of users in the context of this work is possible because the artist generates life situations that reference the virtuality of computer games. With their interactive potential, the environments created by Karner generate various forms of display that are composed similar to arrangements of theatre props and are complemented by a series of performative gestures.

Karl Karner’s multisensorial, fictional fairytale worlds tell a story of incessantly repeated settings of every day life, albeit with their function deconstructed, which clearly point out the absurdity of certain processes through the repetition of objectual elements. Their inherent performativity is applied not only to mere a fine art context, it also spreads out to the domain of theatrical scenes and art performances where the public is involved beyond the limits of museum presentations according to the directing principle in stage-based performative models.

Karner’s pieces function in the context of a gallery or a museum as static objects, whilst their stage-bound performative character reaches out to the dimensions of theatre space and audience. Commensurabilities proper of every day always have an intrinsic bond with social interaction in public space. They are unmasked as banalities and transformed into playful gestures so as to bring the alienation of sense and purpose into play as an artistic chain of arguments that addresses the matter of objectuality.

Exhibitions

• Jan ’09 - The Prize Is With Us

Biography

Born 1973 in Feldbach. Lives and works in Vienna and Feldbach.

Education
since 2007 Akademie der bildende Künste, Vienna / class of Heimo Zobernig

Exhibitions
2010
Triennale Linz 1.0, Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz / A

2009
‘Karl Karner‘ Österreichisches Kulturforum, Praque / CZ (solo)
‘Breathless‘ curated by Adam Budak, Markthalle Wien Mitte, Vienna
‘Re-Action - Wieder Handeln‘ curated by Martin Titz, Galerie Eugen Lendl, Graz / A,
‘the prize is with us‘ GALERIE DANA CHARKASI, Vienna, (solo)
‘In Between’ Austria Contemporary, Galerie Umjetnina, Split / HR
Gerberhaus, Fehring / A

2008
‘Karl Karner’ Neue Galerie Studio, Graz (solo)
‘Karl Karner gestorben am…’ St. Andrä Kirche, Graz (solo)
‘Förderungspreis des Landes Steiermark’ Neue Galerie Graz, Graz
‘Meister der Moderne’ curated by Martin Titz & Helmut Czerny, Jennersdorf / A
‘Recent changes – Änderungen vorbehalten’ curated by Bernhard Gwiggner & Peter Haas, Galerie 5020, Salzburg / A
‘ein Original von…’ Galerie Gölles, Fürstenfeld / A

2007
‘Karl Karner und Wolfgang Wiedner’ Galerie Gölles, Fürstenfeld

2006
Galerie Glacis, Graz
‘Förderungspreis des Landes Steiermark’ Neue Galerie Graz, Graz

2005
Schloss Herberstein, Stmk. / A
Galerie Glacis, Graz (gallery days in Graz)

2004
‘Formsache‘ Schloss Kornberg, Stmk. / A

Performances (in co-oporation with Linda Samaraweerová)
2009
‘Geländer. Höher gestellter.’ in ‘Breathless’ curated by Adam Budak, Markthalle Wien Mitte, Vienna
‘I THINK WE HAVE A GOOD TIME – chanson de geste’ in ‘Tanznacht’, Museumsquartier, Halle G, Vienna
‘I THINK WE HAVE A GOOD TIME – chanson de geste’ Neue Galerie Graz, Graz

2008
‘karl karner gestorben am…‘ Szene Salzburg, Salzburg
‘karl karner gestorben am…‘ St. Andrä church, Graz
‘karl karner gestorben am…‘ Brut, image Festival, Vienna
‘Travel Delights‘ Festival Regionale Steiermark

2007
‘Körperlichkeit und Virtuosität‘ Dietheater, image Festival, Vienna

2006
‘Travel Delights‘, WUK, Vienna
‘X - Change‘ Performance: ‘karl karner gestorben am…’ Tanzquartier Wien, Vienna

2005
der öffentliche Körper: ‘Körperlichkeit und Virtuosität’
‘Subject to change’ Impulstanzwochen, Vienna
der öffentliche Körper: ‘Körperlichkeit und Virtuosität’ Terrains Fertiles, Bukarest – Vienna – Paris
der öffentliche Körper: ‘zelten’ Bezirksfestwochen, Vienna
der öffentliche Körper: ‘laufen’ ‘fischen’ ‘frühstücken’ gallery days, Graz

Awards, Stipends, Acquisitions
2009 Acquisition of bmukk: ‘weekend’
2008 Landesförderungspreis des Landes Steiermark
2007 8 cities cooperation

Publications
2009 Karl Karner, Linda Samaraweerová ‚I Think We Have a Good Time‘
2005 Karl Karner, ‚gestorben am ...‘
1998 Karl Karner, ‚Arbeiten 1996-1998‘