The exhibition project BIG IDEAS – political ideologies and their aftermaths, curated by Christine Bruckbauer and Elisabeth Piskernik, deals with political ideologies and concepts for a better world. Often it was revolutionaries with promising visions, who  gained a large number of followers, seized power and finally made their ideas the political programme of their country. They mostly failed and left a society in ruins.

Sarri Elfaitouri, Radical Libyanism
The series Radical Libyanism by Sarri Elfaitouri showcases possible causes for the catastrophe, incoherence, and chaos in today’s Libya. The 24-year-old artist with an architectural and philosophical background reinterprets these attributes into new urban landscapes. Instead of fading them out, Sarri Elfaitouri incorporates them into his collages consisting of neatly arranged living environments with golden backgrounds. “Radical Libyanism” is not only a critique of the radical Gadaffi era, but also a radical representation of today’s Libyan ideology.

Kosta Tonev, Dolls
Kosta Tonev’s artistic practice is characterized by a research-based examination of political issues. While in recent years it was the entry of liberal capitalism into the former “Second World” that was his interest, the Bulgarian-born artist, who lives in Vienna, now looks beyond Europe for this exhibition and delivers a play in which Mao and Gaddafi resurrect as mass-produced toy figures. In a turbulent, humorous conversation, the chairman and colonel reflect on their past rule, American imperialism, revolutionary ideas, and the fact that they may find themselves on the wrong side of history. There is also a competition in terms of the relevance/uniqueness of their ideas.

Soukaina Joual, The Arab World as Pieces of Meat
Soukaina Joual’s wall painting The Arab World as Pieces of Meat depicts the Arab world through the figure of an ox. The ox, a symbol of strength, but also of submission and passivity, ready to be cut into numerous pieces.
Refering to the Berlin Conference in 1885, at which the European states divided the African continent among them like pieces of meat only to then brutally exploit the colonized states, the artist shows the consequences that are still visible today and criticizes a system that turned a region into a battlefield of extremist ideologies through political machinations.

Yoshinori Niwa, Releasing Euro Banknotes into the Danube River and Looking for them as Lost Items in the Countries Downstream
Yoshinori Niwa‘s works carry self-explanatory slogan-like titles and are mainly installed on the street and in public spaces. For BIG IDEAS, Yoshinori Niwa is starting a new billboard series in the public space of Vienna, with slogans inspired by Muammar al Gaddafi’s vision of a society without wage labour and the incident of 100.000 Euros found by Vienna police floating in the Danube.

L’exposition BIG IDEAS – political ideologies and their aftermath is a collaboration between Le Cube and philomena+ in Vienna.

Press
Dolls, digital layers, money and meat in Les Nouveaux Riches