Sideways
Maria Hera
Luftsteuer – show window project
Mz. Baltazars Laboratory, Sechshauserstraße 28/1150 Wien
About Maria Hera’s project for the exhibition at the Luftsteuer show window:
“My first years in Vienna I spent walking along the streets, exploring this beautiful city. I was
not just interested in the architecture, parks and places, but also in the people and their
stories. I have the strange habit to pay a relaxed attention on the things lying on the
streets. My fantasy starts spinning around, asking questions and imagining the stories
behind the leftover objects.
In the photo-series Viennese Blood, 2009 I show the surprising amount of discarded drug
packaging lying in the streets. I found this phenomenon quite amazing and I asked myself
whether this could be the post-modern vestiges of the city of Freud.
Who are these people leaving all this packaging behind day after day?
Why do these inhabitants of Vienna feel the need to medicate themselves in such
quantities?
What is the cause of their sleeplessness, restlessness, and unhappiness?
Is this the dark side of the easy-going Viennese Schmäh?
Every foil-covered blister pack represents some synthesised chemical which is circulating
the blood-stream in our fellow citizens.
In this period I collected also lots of notes, letters, photographs, even certifications lying on
the streets.
For the show at Mz Balthazars Lab I will open again the box and let out the
Voices of my Viennese fellows. Once again I want to open the dialogue and start a
communication by installing this tiny stories into the window-shop of the lab, in order to
bring them again into the public and open once eyes for the hidden beauty of everyday´s
life!”
Maria Hera, July, 2013.
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About the artist:
Maria Hera was born in 1978 in Hunedoara-Romania. 2002-2007 she studied fine arts at the University of Applied Arts and Science Hannover/DE at Prof. Sigrun Jakubaschke und Prof. Bernhard Garbert. 2007-2008 she attended the master class of Prof. Bernhardt Garbert. Since 2008 Maria Hera lives and works in Vienna.
Her artistic work is focuses on collage, installation and space intervention, photography and street art. The collages are huge papers excrescences rampling all over the walls and creates her own synthesis out of the daily barrage of media images to decode the messages they submit to us and turn them into questions rather than answers.
Selected exhibitions/projects:
Seherin2012 (Fürth-DE), Miss baltazar´s laboratory (Vienna–AT), GIVE ME THE FUTURE (Cluj Napoca-RO), GASTSPIEL2012 (Fürth-DE), Parque del Sol 12 symposium of interdisciplinary art St. (Poelten-AT), Ma soeur 100 tetes (world wide), FREE.SPACE social art FESTIVAL (Vienna-AT), Das Feuer, das der Sonne spottet (Hannover – DE), Homecoming (Hannover – DE), Frauenforscherin/feminist university calender (Vienna-AT), offen2 Kunstraum Benjamin Richard (Leipzig-DE), 99 Red Balloons (Ottawa-CA) Parco di Arte, Roveredo (Tessin-CH), course instructor Romanian Culture Institute (Vienna-AT), Meisterschüler 08, Foro Artistico (Hannover-DE), WIP, Rolleizentrum (Braunschweig-DE) Kreuz und Quer Marktkirche/Kestnergesellschaft (Hannover-DE) 3 feb 2006 Atelier Grammophon (Hannover-DE).
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About Luftsteuer show window project & Mz Baltazar’s Laboratory
The mission of the Luftsteuer Exhibition Project (2013) is to encourage and support solo exhibition projects by artists who call themselves women or trans. The exhibition program is a Mz. Baltazar’s Laboratory project, currently based in a ground-floor atelier at Sechshauserstraße 28, in 15th district, Vienna. Mz. Baltazar’s Laboratory is non-profit organization that playfully demystifies technology by opening up a world where learning new technological tools is fearless, interesting and clear for creative women of all ages. MzBL participants and organizers come from different backgrounds and mindsets to exchange equipment, knowledge, build circuits, play with DIY electronics and interactive art. We encourage each other to learn new tools and collaborate in theory and art groups, workshops and meetings, therefore creating a tech-save women community.
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Notes for editors:
Work-in-progress dates: 20th July – 7th August
Finissage Party: 7th August
Exhibition (inside) space, open during the exhibition opening and other days by appointment to mbl-orga@lists.metalab.at.
High resolution images and logos are available on request.
Contact detail/ enquires:
Curator: Christine Schörkhuber <ch_schoe@servus.at>
Web: www.mzbaltazarslaboratory.org/
Artist: Maria Hera. Tel: 0605478565 Email: Maria Hera maria.hera@kunstohneraum.de
marahera.blogspot.com
