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Undulating Currents opens at Sala Terrena of Die Angewandte for the public on November 8th, 2023 until December 23rd, 2023

Curated by Brooklyn J. Pakathi and Mekhala Dave, and designed by Maria Rudakova, all students of Die Angewandte — Undulating Currents is a research-led exhibition that asks the question: In the face of our current ecological crisis, shaped by both historical colonial legacies and contemporary capitalist impulses, how do we begin to engage with our material world?

The exhibition focuses on the materiality of oil and water—two of the most exploited resources. Undulating Currents brings together international and local Black diasporan, ecofeminist, and queer* artists to explore layers of decolonial perspectives, hidden narratives, and aesthetic sensibilities that liquefy place-based struggles. Originating from a commitment to celebrating Black life, Undulating Currents crystallises moments of resistance by merging storytelling and lived experiences. It opens up possibilities for world-making that interweaves the past and present, aiming toward a collective future.

Extensively, it serves as a site for the exchange of knowledge, exploring the intersection of art, mind, and matter through the juxtaposition of two distinct yet interconnected resources: oil and water. Undulating Currents combines artistic practice, scholarly research, and curatorial practice to address the interconnections of environmental and social injustices.

The exhibition is framed as part of Mekhala Dave’s doctoral research titled ‘Ocean in Us: Relations and Rights’ at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, which employs an epistemological approach, integrating decolonial thinking and situated knowledge to weave a kaleidoscopic tapestry of fluid encounters through collaborative and participatory forms of action in re-thinking ocean stewardship.

Program:

23.11.23 at 5pm-7pm: Curatorial Tour (part 1) & Reading Session in collaboration with Klasse für Alle (https://klassefueralle.uni-ak.ac.at)
A curatorial guided tour of the exhibition will be offered followed by reading carefully curated texts within the context of the selected artworks.
Open to the public

24.11.23 at 5pm-7pm: BIPOC* Reading Session hosted by fuvu_fuerunsvonuns (https://www.instagram.com/fuvu_fuerunsvonuns/)

07.12.23 at 5pm-7pm: Curatorial Tour (part 2) & Reading Session in collaboration with Klasse für Alle
A curatorial guided tour of the exhibition will be offered followed by reading carefully curated texts within the context of the selected artworks.
Open to the public

Undulating Currents is produced by the University Gallery with the support of Jenni Tischer, Marei Buhmann, Department of Transmediale Kunst, The Library of The University for Applied Arts and Klasse für Alle.

// Curatorial Team

Brooklyn J. Pakathi (They/Them) is an independent curator and cultural producer. Their curatorial work is shaped by an interest in decolonial curatorial practices and a search for alternative curatorial strategies that can be used to embed cultural equity. Brooklyn works in actioning cultures of technology, developing inclusive and alternative definitions of the technological, and using virtual space to deploy artistic practice and discourse outside of the modern colonial world system.
Pakathi is also a transmedia artist with an ongoing studio practice in Vienna. Much of their most recent work concerns itself with the language and materiality of emotion. Sentimental longing, melancholy, and various other configurations of intimacy affirm their practice. The Vienna-based artist/curator constructs object, image and space to connect and abstract the underlying architecture of these profound and complex psychological forces. Brooklyn J. Pakathi is currently a student at The Department for Transmediale Kunst at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.

Mekhala Dave (She/Her) is a lawyer and art academic based in Vienna. She is the ocean law and policy analyst/legal researcher at TBA21–Academy and a doctoral researcher in contemporary art history and theory at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. In her past and current work in legal practice, as well as in her Ph.D. research, she advocates for a social turn in artistic practices and explores encounters located across knowledge spheres and communities in the Global South at the intersection of activism and newly shaping ocean policy. From her lived experiences across borders, she draws inspiration and spiritual guidance from water to the questions of historicity and the search for emerging “new” relations of identity and belonging.

Maria Rudakova (She/Her) is an independent Vienna-based multidisciplinary designer specialising in exhibition, web, product and print design.
Her exhibition design practice is grounded in a collaborative and community-oriented approach. In contrast to the ‘White Cube’ ideology, Maria is interested in actively incorporating a special language into the exhibition-making process. In her exhibition design practice, she strives to establish connections between different disciplines and languages in a non-hierarchical way. Maria has also accomplished a set of artistic researched-based video projects on various political and social topics.
Her recent work includes an ongoing exhibition ‘Extensions of Self’ at Francisco Carolinum Linz, ‘Intangible Care’ and ‘Embodied Structures’ exhibitions by CIVA Festival at Belvedere 21 and digital identity for PW-Magazine. Maria graduated from the University of Hertfordshire and currently is a student at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.

*BPOC stands for ‘Black and Indigenous people, and People of Colour’ and is a self-identifying term. While we use the term BPOC, we acknowledge the limitations of this terminology. This includes people who identify as Black, brown, people of colour, Global Majority, mixed-race, multiple heritage and/or are from the Global South, and/or are East and South-East Asian, West Asian, Asian, Middle Eastern, African, African-Caribbean, Caribbean, Latinx, Pacific Islander, Indigenous, or First Nations, and diasporas.