Michaela Schweighofer
Komplot Brussels, Belgium
14 April – 11 June 2023
Props are fated to be overlooked in the world of theatre, considered to be part of the background. Nevertheless, they play an important role, anchoring the stage on which the actors perform, setting the tone, and speaking to the viewer before the actors themselves. They retain a presence even when they are absent, as the viewer’s imagination creates the environment – and props – surrounding the actors. The theatrical element of sculptures, and the sculptural element of props, have been recurring interests for artist Michaela Schweighofer, in her investigations into the concept of the stage.
For her exhibition at Komplot Brussels, Schweighofer created a new sculptural installation, consisting of five series. Co-produced by Phileas, it consisted of sculptures and images within a site-specific installation that brought together objects derived from the urban architecture and the domestic interior: always combining and questioning binaries where the external melted into the internal, the city into the home, the masculine into the feminine. The sculptures functioned as vessels, stuffed and empty at the same time, always tightly lashed to be kept in place. They whispered about our conflicts, wishes, dramas and desires.
The exhibition at Komplot Brussels was accompanied by a series of lectures given by the artist and collaborators. Komplot is the oldest curator-run space in Brussels. Throughout its twenty-year history, it has sought to accompany emerging international artists by offering them a platform in the form of their first institutional exhibition in Belgium.
Michaela Schweighofer (born 1983 in Graz, Austria) works with sculpture, often incorporating installation, text and lectures into her artistic practice. Interested in questions around society, politics and feminism, Schweighofer engages with materials and techniques to interrogate such issues. She has exhibited work and realised projects at Neue Galerie, Graz (AT), Kunstverein Eisenstadt (AT), Pogo Bar, KW Institute of Art, Berlin (DE), foundation, Vienna (AT), Skulpturinstitut, Vienna (AT), brut, Vienna (AT), Forum Stadtpark, Graz (AT) Gipsmuseum, Graz (AT), Galerie der HFBK, Hamburg (DE) and MUMOK, Vienna (AT).
For a further insight into Schweighofer’s work, see the book FROM THE PROP TO THE INSIDE, nominated as one of the most beautiful Austrian publications in 2020. It was designed by Marie Artaker, who is also responsible for Phileas’ First Monographs series.
