Salon Meiselberg
Maria Saal, Austria, 2024
curated by Gabrielle Berlin
This year, Salon Meiselberg plays host to seven international and Austrian artists who all concern themselves with the principle of existence and the boundaries of human nature, but each in their own individual way. They explore concepts of intangibility and the imaginary, the elusive feelings we find so hard to articulate when we look at art. From diverse backgrounds and upbringings, the participants span a range of generations – the 1950s, Sixties, Seventies, Eighties and almost the Nineties of the last century. From painting, sculpture, photography, textile art and performance, they have studied human and natural realities from fundamentally different angles. The exhibition is deliberately free of context, detached from political, historical, religious and scientific influence. For the artists and their works, is “Aequilibrium” a statement or a call for exploration? Is “Aequilibrium” an objective state or can that only be achieved through the perception and understanding of the viewer? In this sense, the title chosen for this year’s Salon can be taken as an active challenge to the audience, set by the artist Magda von Hanau – a challenge and an aid to orientation at the same time. Magda von Hanau offers Schloss Meiselberg as the only tangible “Aequilibrium” in time and space. The exhibition site is in Kärnten, the southernmost region of Austria today, a confluence of Slavic, Roman and German cultures with a long and eventful history. Built in the 14th century, Schloss Meiselberg has become an open forum for culture under the patronage of Nora Wydenbruck or Princess Nora Fugger. The Salon Meiselberg is a valuable place of exchange for artists, giving them strength and continuity in their common creative endeavours.