CHRISTIAN WACHTER | ABPOPA/AURORA

Opening: Thu, 20.12.2011, 19:00
Duration: 21.12.2011 – 26.01. 2011
Project concept: Heimo Watzlik

Aurora is the name of the armored cruiser that, late in the evening on November 6, 1917, signaled the beginning of the Bolsheviks’ storm­ing of the Winter Palace, the seat of the provisional government in Saint Petersburg. The Soviet Union preserved the ship as a symbol of the Russian Revolution; it has been open to the public as a museum since the 1950s. Aurora is also the Roman goddess of the dawn. Blue is the color of the sea, the sky, and the navy. The rising and setting sun is a luminous red, the color of the revolution and of blood.

In his project “Aurora,” Christian Wachter blends mythology and history, the moment and permanence, the past and the present, using a variety of objects as well as writings in Cyrillic and Latin letters and a wide range of imagery produced at different times and for diverse purposes. Their names, concepts, shapes, and colors communicate: a model of the “Aurora” and the plan describing how it must be as­sembled; oval frames that look like portholes; photographs of historic depictions of the ship’s crew; a shot of a bar of chocolate in its packag­ing; sights of the museum ship and scenes in Saint Petersburg; a view from the photo artist’s Vienna apartment.

Other works, large-format photographic compositions created in the studio, set the ship against sweeping geometric figures that do not betray their origins. These photographs are the results of multi­ple exposures, fusing several shots in a single image. In this regard, the photograph evinces an analogy with the historian’s account, in which diverse moments from the past condense into a picture of his­tory. The latter always combines facts the historian takes up with interpretations he or she devises.

With a large-scale installation, Christian Wachter demonstrates how history comes into being and what it means: a construct in which myth is interwoven with fact, past views blend into current ones, and objects and explanations are invoked while others are omit­ted. The beholders may pursue the references provided, developing their own ideas about history. They will find questions by contemplat­ing “Aurora,” and a distinctive standpoint when dawn rises, emerging from the dark to shed the light of truth on the world.
Timm Starl



SHORT BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1949, Christian Wachter lives in Vienna. Since 1983, he has shown and published his work and taught; most recently, he held an appointment in 2010–2011 at the Center for Visual Studies at Donau-Universität, Krems.
From the beginning of his career as an artist, Christian Wachter has studied analytical and conceptual methods and themes in photography. His works set out from historical fact as well as fictional, narrative, or personal elements. By intertwining these sources, Wachter’s semantic and visual art questions and reflects on the perception and interpretation of history and identities.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS | SELECTION
2010 Impressions D‘AFRIQUE, Camera Austria, Graz | 1999 surplus, Künstlerhaus, Vienna | 1997 Im Referenzmeer tauchen …, Austrian Cultural Institute, London; Camera Austria, Graz | 1995 Netz und Knoten, Camera Austria, Forum Stadtpark, Graz | 1994 ABPOPA/AURORA, Ffotogallery, Cardiff | 1993 Europe, Wiener Secession, Vienna | 1991 ABPOPA/AURORA, Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna; Museum Folkwang, Essen | 1990 ABPOPA/AURORA, Camera Austria, Forum Stadtpark, Graz

MONOGRAPHIC PUBLICATIONS
2011 Diar EI Mahçoul, Fotohof edition, Salzburg | 2007 Impressions D‘AFRIQUE, Fotohof edition, Salzburg | 1990 ABPOPA/AURORA, Edition Camera Austria, Graz