Sophie Thun
The Romanian Association of Contemporary Art (ARAC), Bucharest
27 October 2023 – 13 January 2024
Each object that an artist produces is presented within a specific framework. While in the past, this framework has been defined by a predominantly male perspective, a long-overdue shift in recent years has opened up previously non-existent opportunities for women artists. One result of this has been a reconsideration of artists whose work did not receive the attention that it deserved at the time it was made.
The exhibition at ARAC – The Romanian Association for Contemporary Art allowed for such reconsideration, focusing on the work of the Romanian artist Irina Codreanu (1897-1985) through the lens of two contemporary artists, Sophie Thun and Aurora Király. Both photographers with previous experience of the retelling of female biographies, Thun and Király were invited to explore the work of Codreanu and consider the historical and aesthetic parallels between the 1920s and today. The exhibition, which was called Back Stages, was conceptualised and planned together with independent curator and writer Mirela Baciak. The project was presented in the form of a performative intervention at The Romanian Modern Art Gallery and an exhibition at ARAC's space in Bucharest.
ARAC is a non-profit organisation founded in 2012 and dedicated to the production and promotion of contemporary art in Romania and abroad. The aim of the association is to bring unrecognised constellations to the forefront by encouraging collaboration between international and local artists.
Sophie Thun (born 1985 in Frankfurt, Germany) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków before graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Working primarily with photography, her practice is often site-specific and characterised by an exploration of the relationship between the artist’s physical labour and the presentation of the final photographic object. Thun’s work has been exhibited at institutions including the Secession, Vienna; Kunstraum Munich; Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga; Kunstforum, Vienna; and ICA Yerevan.
Phileas also supported the publication of her First Monograph in 2022 as well as her exhibition at Kim? Contemporary Art Centre in Riga in 2021. Thun will also take part in the exhibition on Friedl Kubelka at the Phileas exhibition space in Vienna in 2023.
