Factory for international Utopias
KÖR Niederösterreich
2024–2024 # INSTALLATIONS, GRAPHICS, OBJECTS, PERFORMANCES
June–November 2024, Schallaburg
During the Renaissance, an important economic and social system evolved: capitalism. Today, global trade has an impact on people and the environment. Nataša Sienčnik’s Fabrik für international Utopien (Factory for International Utopias) focuses on the prototypical global aspects of textile production as well as the working and living conditions connected with it. The artist is embarking on a journey in and around Schallaburg Castle with a bike trailer that is designed as a mobile workshop for the production of utopias. The workshop is a piece of furniture that refers to the archetypical Renaissance cabinet and consists of a showcase with a foldout ironing and/or working board. It also contains handmade flags as well as tools for dying, sewing, ironing, and writing on fabric. The pieces of textile, which are died in shades of yellow—the Lower Austrian Danube region was well-known for cultivating high-quality saffron—can be seen in the tradition of banners in civil society and offer room for utopian visions in the form of texts and drawings that we can write on the flags we want to fly. The results are ephemeral objects that show a feminist perspective of themes like (care) work, the distribution of time, and social structures, while also providing a space for new utopias. The Fabrik für internationale Utopien will appear at different locations, where visitors are invited to create their own utopias.
Wood, dyed, sewn and printed fabrics, various materials
Wooden structure realized with Jacqueline Pehack
Photos (6–10) by Joanna Pianka / KOERNOE
Wooden structure realized with Jacqueline Pehack
Photos (6–10) by Joanna Pianka / KOERNOE
