SALZBURG, AUSTRIA.- Salzburger Kunstverein presents Soleil Noir - Depression and Society, on view through September 10, 2006. Within the exhibition Soleil Noir the Salzburger Kunstverein investigates the connection between depression and society. People are increasingly complaining about ”The Exhausted Self“ to quote a book title by French sociologist Alain Ehrenberg, who has been working on the theme, development of the term and definition of depression.

The daily phenomenon of “burn out”, depression and the administration of anti-psychotic medication even for mild depressive moods can be described as a social process of “taking care of oneself” which is delegated to each individual. The increasing emancipation of the subject of regulatory institutions, such as the family, political movements and the nation, leave a lot of empty spaces which can not simply be filled with the notion of “self-responsibility”.

Beyond the romantic idea of the artist as an exemplary sufferer, being especially productive in a melancholic condition, this exhibition should be an investigation into the correlation between society and the individual and the activation of the subjects in a neo-liberal society. The Austrian painter Otto Zitko created a wall painting for the Circular Gallery, the work will be on view until end of 2006.

Artists: Maria Bussmann, Olga Chernysheva, Doris Frohnapfel, Dan Graham, Lynn Hershman, Maryam Jafri, Gülsün Karamustafa, Pawel Ksiazek, Anita Leisz, Maria Lieb, Gerd Löffler, Antje Majewski, Ioana Nemes, Fritz Rücker, Miroslav Tichý, Simon Wachsmuth, Ingrid Wildi, and Otto Zitko (Circular Gallery).