Ana Hoffner ex-Prvulovic*
5th Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India
12 December 2022 – 10 April 2023
Humanity has always possessed the ability to flourish under dire circumstances; its robustness in the face of difficulty has resulted in many of the greatest works of art, literature and music. For Shubigi Rao, this tenacity – which ultimately speaks of optimism – was the inspiration for the 5th Kochi-Muziris Biennale, and also gave the biennial its title: In Our Veins Flow Ink and Fire.
The biennial considered the significance of different experiences; those which divide, and those which unite people. In bringing together artists with diverse practices, and stories, the exhibition provided a platform to find common ground and an appreciation of difference.
For her participation, co-produced by Phileas, artist Ana Hoffner ex-Prvulovic* has produced a new installation that explores the meaning and power of everyday objects - posters, flyers, and other memorabilia - and the stories they tell; both fictional and real. It prompts the viewer to consider, “what was” and “what would have been if…,” plays with the act of narration, the inclusion and omission of detail, and reminds us that historical narratives are often shaped by a few individuals, rather than the collective.
Ana Hoffner ex-Prvulovic* (born 1980 in Paraćin, Yugoslavia, lives and works in Vienna) is an artist, researcher and writer interested in queerness, displays of global capitalism, colonialism and the East, forms of escape, early psychoanalysis, and the politics of war and memory. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, and her work has been exhibited at Salzburger Kunstverein; Secession, Vienna; Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig; Künstlerhaus Graz; LACE, Los Angeles; and VOX centre de l’image contemporaine, Montreal. Her most recent solo exhibition was presented at Kunsthalle Wien in late 2021 - early 2022.
