Art Austria 2016 – Bäckerstrasse 4

Under the guiding theme “Landscape/Topographical Space,” Galerie bäckerstrasse4 presents works by Sissa Micheli (*1975) and Thomas Gänszler (*1982). Both artists approach the theme across media, creating exciting dialogue. Micheli shows geological sites such as caves, mountains, forests and lakes as metaphors of survival or failure. She uses, among other things, a rescue blanket made of aluminum and polyester or parachutes as important staging materials. Gänszler’s materials are just as often taken from functional everyday life but are translated into the artist’s characteristic formal language through fragmentation, deliberately leaving the viewer in the dark about their former function. Despite different approaches, there are many parallels in the works of both artists, both formally and in terms of content. Micheli’s photographic approach to space and its structures is in dialogue with Gänszler’s series of works, which are characterized by sculptural questions and often end in works that seem photographic. The result is a spatial interplay between the objects and images of the two artists, with a particular focus on topographical possibilities of representation.