Ruth Novaczek 'Eat The Dust' 2019 (Film Still)
As part of contemporary art in graz, kunstGarten opens on the 17th of May the exhibition with the provisional working title
SEE AND REAP: MOMENTS OF LIFE & COUNTERLIFE (- 2nd of July)
With the artists
Gregory Tara Hari (Artist in Residence)
Ruth Novaczek (Video)
(Performance: Gregory Tara Hari, Henrik Sande)
Curators: Anaïs & Irmi Horn
Opening by the municipal councilor Sabine Pogner & art historian Tanja Gurke.
The tragedy of the Renaissance concept of humanism is physically evident in the desperation and sadness visible in the later stages of life, reflected in a person’s increasingly droopy and fading expressions. Older generations often seem resigned and frequently appear dissatisfied, sometimes to a ridiculous extent. This situation prompts younger generations to reflect on important values such as virtue, responsibility, identity, and society. They may choose to give time a chance, experimenting with different aspects of experience and assessing their lives by these values. Alternatively, they may lead a risky life characterized by a frivolous relationship with drugs, which can lead to megalomania and a complacent longing for death. In doing so, they test the boundary between worthwhile and worthless living, plunging into their chosen universe of life or counter-life.
Eilert Asmervik
Born in 1997 in Trondheim, Norway, lives and works in Paris and Graz. As a visual artist, he understands painting as his main instrument in the processing of possibilities for pictorial worlds and the conditions of their creation. His painting practice is located in a constant, dynamic exchange with his parallel music/sound practice.
A superposition of image worlds satisfies the spectrum of his cross-media image production; digital, painted and printed images become links in the “chain of image and counter-picture”.
Side instruments of artistic creation include videos, sound design, publications and installations.
Asmervik studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Daniel Richter (diploma 2024), at the Beaux-Arts de Paris with Nina Childress and the Academy of Fine Arts Düsseldorf with Andreas Schulze. Before studying the visual arts, he studied music (classics and jazz/improvisation) at the Birka FHSK in Sweden.
As a co-founder of the international platform InterStar, he regularly brings interdisciplinary,
Intermedial and interaesthetic forms of expression into the world, through guerrilla shows, publications, concerts and other experimental formats.
Since 2023, he and his partner, Anaïs Horn, have been running the pop-up art room Cabanon in Paris.
Eilert Asmervik, Dakini DJ’s select X: Fortunas rays lay wander-ways, 2025, 90 × 65 cm, oil on canvas/Öl auf Leinwand
Gregory Tara Hari (born 1993 in Richterswil) is a Swiss artist and actor who lives and works in Zurich. His artistic practice encompasses a wide range of media, including performance, painting, drawing, photography, video, and sculpture. Hari deals with political and social issues in his work, often intertwining historical events and current debates.
Gregory Hari completed his Master of Arts in Fine Arts from 2016 to 2020 at the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst (FHNW) in Basel/Münchenstein. Before that, he studied from 2012 to 2015 at the F+F School of Art and Design in Zurich and previously attended a preliminary course at the same institution. In addition, he spent his first year of apprenticeship as a women’s tailor at StoffArt in Schwyz.
In addition to his work as a visual artist, Hari occasionally works as an actor of supporting roles in films produced in Switzerland. He played a role in the Swiss drama film 99 Moons.
Hari is known for his interdisciplinary approaches, which often cross the boundaries of traditional art forms. His works are characterized by a deep examination of social, cultural and political issues. He uses a variety of media, including performance, sculpture, painting, drawing, photography and video, to present complex concepts and provide an intense experience for viewers. Striking is his ability to transfer everyday objects and situations into an artistic context and thus create new meanings.
Exhibitions and projects
Hari has presented his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions, both in Switzerland and internationally. Among them are appearances at the Swiss Art Awards, the Helvetia Art Prize and the Performance Prize Switzerland. His works were exhibited at the Helmhaus, Zurich, the Kunsthalle Zürich and the Kunstmuseum Basel Gegenwart. He has participated in biennials and international art fairs.
Susanna Hofer is a photographer and lives in Vienna and on the Pack. She studied literature and applied photography and is a co-founder of “Fountain´s Edit”. She holds a degree in german literature, studied art and communication practise, time based media and photography at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Her work revolves around her interest in botanic constructions, “literarischer Dingsymbolik” and sculpture, juxtaposing traditional still life, Tableaux Vivants and commercial photography. As part of her practice, she collects, arranges, and archives simple everyday objects, translates one medium into another and creates surrealistic images and finely composed socio documentary themes. Characteristic of her photographic work is the transformation of finely composed still lifes into a documentary narrative. Her portfolio includes unpretentious portraits, fragmented documentation and still lifes that oscillate between the magical and the concrete.
Ruth Novaczek is an artist and curator. She studied fine art film at St. Martins School of Art in London, and an MA in Fine Art, at Central St Martins in 2000. In 2015 she earned a practice-based PhD entitled ’21st Century Avant-Garde; New Vernaculars and Feminine Ecriture’ from the University of Westminster, London and is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Westminster. She has since been making film, performance and installation work that explores diaspora, gender, humour, sexuality, cinematic language and philosophy.
Using found footage, aphorism and live action the films are diasporic stand-up, feminist mash-ups, poetic, irreverent musings. She has been a DJ and played in bands, and applies an eclectic musical compositional element to her work. She received an Arts Council of England award for her film ‘Philosopher Queen’ and has had solo shows at the New York Kunsthalle, Arsenal, Berlin, and the BFI Southbank, London.
She curated a selection of films at Catalyst Arts Belfast. Living and working in the UK, the US and the Middle East, she has been a guest, and visiting lecturer at art schools and universities in the UK, teaching film theory, world cinema and film practice.
She was Dartington Arts (UK) artist in residence in 2002, and has published three collections of her films on DVD.
Her DVD publication Radio includes an introductory essay by Chris Kraus, and Denah Johnston, reviewing her most recent film The New World called her ‘the Patti Smith of film’. She is currently working on an expanded film project and writing an experimental novel. Her work is featured in the recommended viewing section of Chris Kraus’ book ‘Akademie X: Lessons and Tutors in Art’ which was published in February 2015 by Phaidon Press.
2024 Jarman award nominee. © Lorna Milburn
Education
1979-1981 Courtauld Institute of Art, History of Art
1983-1986 St.Martins School of Art, Film and Video B.A. (Hons)
1998-2000 M.A. Fine Art, Central St Martins, London
2009-2015 PhD. By Practice, University of Westminster, CREAM, London
Selected Teaching 1999-2016
Guest Lecturer Barnard College, New York, Kent Institute of Art and Design, Dartington School of Arts, Devon, University of Plymouth, Exeter, Wimbledon School of Art, Vienna Kunst Akademie
Visiting Lecturer Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. Westminster University, School of Media Arts and Design. Dartington College, Devon, Falmouth University, Cornwall UK.
Part-time Lecturer Regents American University, London 2005-2013
Advisor Transart Institute, ongoing
Visiting Research Fellow University of Westminster, ongoing