As a place for open communication and discussion, the art and project space Memphis has been offering artists, filmmakers, theorists and authors a space for critical examination of contemporary culture in Linz since 2014.

‍

We are now very happy to announce the first artist editions exclusively created for Memphis by Isabella Auer, Sarah Decristoforo, Rainer Gamsjäger, Robert Müller, Ulrich Nausner and Estefania Peñafiel Loaiza. The editions are designed to support the Memphis art space and are available for purchase here.

‍

Isabella Auer is a media artist living and working in Linz. She discovered her interest in flashy animated GIFs and pixel explosions during her time as part of the Spanish artist collective “Hungry Castle”. Her works range from videos and animations to interactive installations, often with a focus on pop-cultural themes.

‍

Through the artistic processing of mass-medial imagery Sarah Decristoforo addresses political and social problems and thereby sensitizes the perception of the viewer. The strategy of camouflage, the shift in context, the dialectics of outside and inside, the preoccupation with the everyday violence and working with existing materials and patterns characterize the work of Sarah Decristoforo.

‍

Rainer Gamsjäger is dealing with video and photography on structural levels. He deconstructs and decomposes digital images into their smallest units, in order to re-arrange them using algorithms by specially programmed software and to unveil abstract image contents. As source material, Gamsjäger uses iconic images of actresses from the “Golden Age” of Hollywood cinema, photographs from NASA space telescopes high-resolution landscape images.

‍

In Robert Müller’s works, the references to the adaptation of someone else‘s handwriting and the transfer of a performative gesture are converted into a schematic, shaky model of identity. This leads to the serial conversion of the drawing practice of others and to the illustration of alternative, fictional CVs as a kind of graphic love letter.

‍

In his conceptual works and installations, Ulrich Nausner deals with patterns of perception and the meaningful connections between information and language in various media. His works are represented in international solo and group exhibitions, he lives and works in Vienna.

‍

Estefania Peñafiel Loaiza has constructed her work around the tension between the visible and the invisible, between appropriation and subversion. She works with different languages and media, based on changes in her own geographical location, she contextualizes concepts such as territory, cartography, migration, frontiers, memory and history in her artistic practice.

‍

Due to the safety precautions to contain the spread of COVID-19, we are not holding an opening party, but instead invite you to a preview in the art space from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. before the start of the official duration of the exhibition. According to the regulations in force from September 21, 2020, entry of the art space is only possible for 10 people at the same time and only with mouth and nose protection. In addition to the premises, the backyard will be open.

‍