ANNENSTRAßE53 is an independent Exhibiting Space that mirrors and exposes discourses, ideas and teaching, taking place at the IZK – Institute for Contemporary Art at TU Graz. By dislocating teaching, research and investigations from the university to Annenstrasse 53, we, the IZK Collective, actively work towards a praxis that questions norms and encompasses a process of ‘unlearning’ within our teaching, research, artistic production, and exhibiting. In light of this, we want to conceptualise and practice exhibiting as a continuous, open-ended process, as the deliberate refusal of temporal closure. By slowly adding and subtracting objects, publications, artistic works and conversations within the exhibiting space, we aim to establish discourses in flux, connecting topics and positions, in relation with teaching and student work. Within this flux we position research as an investigative, transformative process for all involved.
Confronted with an exhibition space caught between production and representation, we consider it highly relevant to investigate and simultaneously present the possibilities and tensions between virtual and physical presence. In light of the need for a viable approach to physical experience, we see this simultaneous investigation and exposure as emphasised by the pandemic with its long months of physical distancing, and the disintegration of society at large. In our view, this process can produce a moment of ‘unlearning’, bringing forth sites for investigative (dis)play, media manifestations, and collaborations.