A War in the Distance. Prologue
An Embattled Ukraine in Video Art and Film

1.7–1.8.22, Neue Galerie Graz
Opening: 1.7.22, 19:00

A cooperation between steirischer herbst ’22 and Neue Galerie Graz / Universalmuseum Joanneum

For times immemorial, Styria has been surrounded by wars, many of them only heard echoing in the distance. This autumn, steirischer herbst festival addresses this looming presence of far-off battles. In the summer, a prologue to the 55th edition focuses on Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine—a conflict whose relevance and proximity are impossible to ignore now.

In a special exhibition at Neue Galerie Graz running from 1 July to 1 August, steirischer herbst presents historical and contemporary video art and films. They offer a subjective, sobering, and human view of current events otherwise explained in military or geopolitical terms.

→  A War in the Distance. Prologue

The 55th festival edition of steirischer herbst takes place from 22 September to 16 October.

A first preview of the theme and participating artists will be presented in June.

Talks, documentation videos and Situation Reports from previous festival editions are available in our video archive.

A new comprehensive website dedicated to steirischer herbst’s rich history gathers texts about different curatorial periods as well as overviews of individual editions and information about various subprojects and festivals within the festival that were once parts of steirischer herbst as well as rich annotated visual material.

→  Retrospective

Thanks to a special grant from the State of Styria, the festival’s physical as well as digital archive has been adapted and restructured to meet international standards. Valuable files could be cleaned, transferred, and reindexed. Hidden items were re-discovered, reassigned, and complemented, and additional rooms could be opened up.

→  Archive

A newly established university program includes discursive events and workshops planned in conjunction with steirischer herbst to close the gap between curatorial practice and academic theory. In relation to this program, international fellowships for researchers and artists will be announced shortly.

→  University Programs

As a festival with a long history of engagement with public space, steirischer herbst ’21 was all about searching for The Way Out—literally, by going outdoors, as well as metaphorically in the context of crises, the pandemic, and art. From 9.9. to 10.10., around thirty-five artists and collectives ventured out of safe white cubes and black boxes, into the outside world, the real, the everyday, and the popular.

→  Welcome
→  The Way Out to Art?
​ ​ ​​ ​​ ​ ​ A Polemical Introduction
→  Opening speech 9.9.21

Complementing the on-site programming in Graz and Styria, steirischer herbst ’21 also featured an online component with livestreams and different video works. Even after the end of the festival, these video works remain available online. With the Situation Reports a new video format was created that dealt with current events in Graz and the history of the city. Online lectures, the Ö1 festival podcast, the recording of the opening speech, as well as project documentations of various performances can also still be viewed.

→  Videos

steirischer herbst would like to thank all visitors and participants as well as all patrons and sponsors, without whose generous support the festival could not have taken place in this form.

→  Supporters