SoundPerformingArchitecture_Reading of the Black Book 1 by Anja Nowak
https://vimeo.com/299290110

STUDIO Raum 33: Laxenburgerstrasse 28-30 (next to no. 32), 1100 Vienna
Entrance - blue gate
(How to get there: U1 Keplerplatz / Bus 14A Gudrunstrasse)

Anja Nowak’s Schwarzes Buch (Black Book) also tells about the relationship between the picture and the depiction, the dialogue between the photograph of a shadow and a drawing of this shadow, where the distinction between the two eludes our perception, where the difference and the identical appearance lie side for side in the shadow of what can be defined. Between the picture and the depiction there is a perception that aligns them with each other, making them both appear to be the same – identical and mistakeable, interchangeable only within the horizon of their similarity, their ability to switch sides, to swap places and to play the role of the other. The picture drawn of a rectangular shadow can depict the shadow and the depiction of the photographed shadow – a picture becoming the depiction of a depiction, swapping sides, becoming identical with its other side, where front and back circle each other, following each other and emerging from each other, always ready to change direction, simultaneously aligned with and attributed to the classes of picture and depiction. In the same way as the sides begin to rotate, the beginning and end of the black book circle each other, the last and first pages appearing equally identical and different – and only identical because they are different, linked together by the difference that the comparison between identical pages permits. Between the black covers, which, thanks to the format of the book create a scale depiction of the format of the shadow, a story develops, a narrative structure that speaks of system and deviation, of systems exposed to contingency, a system that eludes predictability, the comprehension of cause and effect, of justification and unjustified doubt. repetitions, mirror images, cracks and rotations criss-cross the narrations, multiply the possible that reveals itself page by page. The black book allows the possible to speak out, insisting on an uncertainty that contrasts with knowledge, on a knowledge about the possible that casts other shadows than those that knowledge knowingly intends to depict. In this sense, the black book is a type of compass for contingencies whose light speaks out of the shadows.
Text: Andreas Spiegl

a n j a n o w a k (DE *1984). Studied sociology and fine arts in Magdeburg, Rio de Janeiro and Vienna. Nowak mainly works with video, installation and photography. The artist’s work represents a complex confrontation in which she addresses questions of visibility and comparability. An important part of her practice are collaborations with artists and culture professionals.
www.anjanowak.com

a n n a l e r c h b a u m e r (AT *1989). The video and sound artist Anna Lerchbaumer makes works that feature our technologies, build surroundings, and mobility, a near-cinematic investigation of hypermodernity it´s memories and emotions. A desire to know and be in the world while expanding it. She composes her research into a rhythmic narrative. A member of Anulla and collaborating with various artists. Recent performances and exhibitions include Galaxy Museum in Chongqing in China, Gallery Weltraum in Munich, Zentrale and the Krinzinger Projekte in Vienna.
www.annalerchbaumer.com