until 18.07.2025
For one sees only those in the light, those in the dark one does not see, is the title of a collage by the Austrian artist Wilhelm Traeger (1907-1980), to whom the Austrian Cultural Forum in London is dedicating an exhibition to mark the end of the Second World War.
After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the challenges of the interwar period and the devastation of the Second World War, during which a free Austrian art scene could barely survive, a reawakening was slow in coming.
The artists of this generation, who were involved in the construction of a new Austria, contributed to a lively art scene, but many remained hidden from the international public. In the exhibition ‘Of course I know eternity’, curated by the curatorial team Kollektiv Collective (Sasha Shevchenko and Pia Zeitzen), Wilhelm Traeger is juxtaposed with the British-American artist Gray Wielebinski. This cross-generational dialogue enables the encounter of two artistic positions that have never met in real life. Traeger’s paper collages from 1961 to 1969 and Wielebinski’s site-specific installations scrutinise the flow of time. Side by side, the two mark a moment in which the tomorrow of one is the present of the other.
Of course I know eternity
until 18.07.2025
Austrian Cultural Forum London
28 Rutland Gate
London SW7 1PQ
www.acflondon.org
