Daniel Hafner: Modern People, 2021/2025

Daniel Hafner's artistic practice, long characterized by the use of diverse mediums, increasingly focuses on the potential of artistic action. The installation "Modern People" is intrinsically linked to a performance of the same name, which Hafner has staged with fellow artists at various locations. Their filmic recordings form a fundamental component of this spatial composition.

The concept is directed towards exploring public spaces: Their landscapes and objects – both techno-industrial and botanical – provide an impetus to engage with encountered realities and come to terms with them. In doing so, the performers follow instructions inscribed as symbols on stones and leaves. The resulting (inter)actions represent delicate, quiet, and mindful examinations and redefinitions of our surroundings. They often recall mundane, routine actions guided by the world of objects.

"Modern People" directs our focus towards "useless, discarded, disposed of, lost, or fallen objects"– much like the psychoanalytic method, which pays attention to "neglected, unnoticed details" (Freud, 1914).

 

Video installation: Daniel Hafner, Modern People, 2021/2025, found objects and video (Modern People, 2021, 8:40 min, performers: Elke Auer, Daniel Hafner, Nora Plank, Katharina Schmied, camera: Niklas Dostal, Julius Zeitlmann, production: Lisa-Maria Schmidt, cut/colour grading: Daniel Hafner, Julius Zeitlmann)

  

Showroom Berggasse 19
Opening: June 12, 7 P.M.

On display through October 31