THE STUDIO OF A FORMER MUSEUM CONSERVATOR
In her exhibition "In den
leeren Spiegeln..." at the Tiroler Volkskunstmuseum (25.10.2019-16.
02.2020), Carmen Brucic presented the portrait of an artist's apartment
that has just been abandoned by its occupant. Immediately after the
Tyrolean painter and sculptor Wolfram Köberl moved into nursing home,
she was given access to his personal living space, which served both as a
studio and a refuge. In the present shadows and mirrors, Brucic
encountered the traces of a love of painting as well as the doubts,
struggles and warmth of an entire life. The photographs, which record
her encounter with this atmosphere, were shown together with the
artist's everyday objects.
Questioning whether this makes a
biographical reconstruction possible or whether the contemplation of
another life is always just a reflection of one's own self. Brucic was
concerned with what it means to enter an abandoned private sphere. The
historical rooms of the Tiroler Volkskunstmuseum, which had once been
part of a private everyday life, were part of the exhibition and
adressed as museum-like staged living spaces. With a contemporary room
installation and texts on the photographs by Carmen Brucic, young people
complemented the exhibition and the museum with new narrative
techniques.
Carmen Brucic, born 1972, lives and works
in Vienna and Tyrol. Brucic is known for her participatory working
methods. She works on
emotional themes in media such as photography, theatre and staging
performative interventions. Since 2001, the artist has been conceiving
artistic formats to deal with emotional subjects. Gnadenwald,
Sehnsuchtszentrifuge (The centrifuge of longing), Die Liebeskranke
Gesellschaft (The lovesick society), Symmetrien des Abschieds
(Symmetries of Departure), Über den Mut sich zu öffnen (On the courage
to open oneself), Degradation of a kiss ... At all times starting out
from the image, her preferred medium is photography. The fruitful
combination of photography, presentation, performative intervention, and
a process-like, often participatory, unfolding of events has come to
characterise her work.
