Grazer Kunstverein
Josef Dabernig
Lacrimosa
Exhibition
Josef Dabernig, Lacrimosa (2024), film still, courtesy of the artist
After two decades, Austrian artist and filmmaker Josef Dabernig returns to Grazer Kunstverein. The exhibition revolves around the Austrian premiere of his latest film, Lacrimosa (2024), which stages funeral ceremonies in the attic of a spooky villa. In the film, the artist’s elderly aunt gathers her great-grandnieces and great-grandnephew around a child’s coffin for a funeral prayer. Folded hands, furtive glances, rosaries, and a commode chair are the elements of an eccentric children’s game in which the illustrious group navigates between intimidation, rebellion, and a dangerous staircase, all while grappling with existential questions.
Lacrimosa sets the tone for a retrospective look at Dabernig’s moving-image oeuvre, filtered through the motifs of death, mourning, and elegy. The relation between the film and the scenography is conceived as an expanded form of sculpture, shaping the interplay of relic, domesticity, and letting go.
A cooperation in the context of steirischer herbst ’24
Education event
28.9., 11:00–20:00
Partner Program exhibitions tour
21.9.–17.11.
Grazer Kunstverein
Palais Trauttmansdorff
Burggasse 4
8010 Graz (partly ♿)
Wed–Sun 12:00–18:00
4/2 euros
20.9., 18:00
Opening
28.9., 16:00
Exhibition talk by Tanja Gurke with Pieternel Vermoortel
Curated by Tom Engels
A cooperation in the context of steirischer herbst ’24
Education event
28.9., 11:00–20:00
Partner Program exhibitions tour