CARINTHIA, AUSTRIA.-Beginning 8 July 2008, the Austrian Federal Province of Carinthia, together with eight Carinthian art institutions, presents the first comprehensive major exhibition on contemporary art and architecture in Carinthia under the title "K08 :: Emancipation and Confrontation - Art from Carinthia from 1945 to the Present".

The exhibition will offer a representative cross-section of art developments from 1945 to the present in the areas of painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, and video. Another focal point of this show is art in public space, tying into the project "Hermits - Cosmopolitans: Modern Painting in Carinthia from 1900 to 1955," which was realized in 2004.

K08 :: Emancipation and Confrontation documents how a new generation of artists set out on new paths after 1945 and explores the development of art in the immediate present. In addition to painting and sculpture, photography, video, and installation art have grown in significance and will be presented accordingly. Many artists from Carinthia, such as Hans Bischoffshausen, Josef Dabernig, Günther Domenig, Ines Doujak, Johann Fruhmann, Bruno Gironcoli, Wolfgang Hollegha, Franco Kappl, Kurt Kocherscheidt, Kiki Kogelnik, Cornelius Kolig, Maria Lassnig, Meina Schellander, and Heimo Zobernig, all the way up to the younger generation including Gudrun Kampl, Roland Kollnitz, Eric Kressnig, and Katarina Schmidl, have left their mark on art history beyond Carinthia as well.

Curated by Silvie Aigner, this show will present over one hundred artists in eight Carinthian art institutions.

The exhibition project covers the following locations:
Klagenfurt Museum of Modern Art Carinthia; Art Association Carinthia, Künstlerhaus Klagenfurt; Napoleonstadel – Carinthia`s House of Architecture; the public space of the City of Klagenfurt
Bleiburg Werner Berg Museum
Saag by Velden Kelag Power Station Forstsee
Einöde by Villach Kunstwerk Krastal
Ossiach Ossiach Monastery
Nötsch im Gailtal Museum of the Nötsch Circle

Location Klagenfurt - With a survey of the development of art from 1945 to the present, the Museum of Modern Art Carinthia is the heart of this major exhibition. The turn to abstract painting is documented with works by Hans Bischoffshausen, Johann Fruhmann, Wolfgang Hollegha, Arnulf Rainer, Hans Staudacher, and others. In addition, the path from figuration to the abstract language of forms is traced with a number of graphic works. Examples of sculptures from Fritz Wotruba`s master class, such as works by Otto Eder, Anton Marcolin, and Hanak`s student Othmar Jaindl, demonstrate the rise of sculpture to an internationally acclaimed avant-garde. This leads into the presentation of the Carinthian artists like Hans Bischoffshausen, Kiki Kogelnik and Maria Lassnig that sought a confrontation with the international avant-garde after World War II and settled in Vienna, Paris, or New York. When Bruno Gironcoli from Carinthia took over the master class for sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, this marked the beginning of a new era, which was accompanied by the inclusion of new materials and an expansion and transformation of the concept of sculpture, all the way to Heimo Zobernig, who teaches at the Academy today. This is shown with individual positions from Carinthia. Painting from the 1980s and 90s is presented with works by Giselbert Hoke, Gustav Janus, Kurt Kappa Kocherscheidt, Peter Krawagna, Valentin Oman, Wolfgang Walkensteiner, Reimo Wukounig, and others. This is followed by a contemporary section, leading from the essential trends of the 90s up to the present. Artists such as Josef Dabernig, Ernst Logar, and Claus Prokop exemplify the interweaving of sculpture and painting with photography, film, and installation. Textile materials are increasingly used in the area of sculpture as a means of expression in more recent object art, presented through works by artists such as Gudrun Kampl, Ina Loitzl, and Edith Payer.

Within the framework of the exhibition, the Art Association Carinthia in the Künstlerhaus Klagenfurt will present the young and the middle generation, whose work is closely linked with an intermedia strategy in between object, photography, and new media. Central to this are the works of Meina Schellander and Inge Vavra, who formulated a connection between spatial discourse, graphic art, photography, and object art at an early stage and are regarded as pioneers of this trend in Carinthia. Starting from their work, individual artists will be invited to conceive installations for the house. This includes recent positions such as those of Luisa Kasalicky, Anja Manfredi, and Katarina Schmidl, as well as artists from the middle generation like Ines Doujak, Roland Kollnitz, Hubert Lobnig, Nicole Six&Paul Petritsch, and Larissa Tomasetti. The exhibition documents that many artists from Carinthia have influenced the contemporary context of the Austrian art scene and are important beyond this region. They live and work largely outside Carinthia. In this way, the Art Association Carinthia once again lives up to its role as a platform and exhibition house for the manifold trends within Austrian art. The presentation in the Künstlerhaus Klagenfurt supplements and extends the individual examples of contemporary art in the Museum of Modern Art Carinthia. Both houses are thus placed in communication with one another and play a central role within the exhibition.

Under the aspect of "transfer," the Napoleonstadel – Carinthia`s House of Architecture will show both project conceptions and realized buildings by Carinthian architects in Carinthia and outside Carinthia, as well as competition activitities within the federal province: with selected projects by architects such as Coop Himmelb(l)au, Ortner&Ortner, Franz Erhardt Walther, or the architectural firm of Loudon&Habeler, currently awarded the Building Prize of the Province of Carinthia. From the pool of architects originating from Carinthia, the exhibition will also focus on current projects by architects who are either from Carinthia or have a strong tie to Carinthia. These include BEHF/Vienna, BKK3/Vienna, Günther Domenig/Graz, feld72/Vienna, Heidulf Gerngroß/Vienna, Volker Giencke/Graz, Günther Domenig XLGD/Paris, Manfred Kovatsch/Munich, Herbert Missoni – Team A Graz/Graz, nonconform/Vienna, Gruppe RATAPLAN/Vienna, SHARE/Vienna, and others.

Two projects by Jochen Traar will be realized in the urban space of Klagenfurt.

The locations Bleiburg, Saag by Velden, Einöde by Villach, Ossiach, Nötsch im Gailtal
In conjunction with K08, the Werner Berg Museum in Bleiburg, founded in 1968, shows selected works by Werner Berg, which exemplify his formally stringent conception of pictures. Starting from these works, the reception of the geometric style after 1945 will be outlined on the basis of works by Hans Bischoffshausen, Johann Fruhmann, and Kiki Kogelnik. The continuity of concrete trends, which has usually been neglected in documentations of Austrian art, is presented by K08 for the first time with a selection of contemporary artists from Carinthia from Marianne Bähr, Armin Ebner, Manuel Knapp, Edgar Knoop, Eric Kressnig, Ferdinand Penker, Zorka Weiss, and Gertrude Weiss-Richter to Heimo Zobernig.

The Kelag Power Station Forstsee in Saag by Velden shows two solo presentations by Carinthian artists: Elke Meier and Gernot Fischer-Kondratovitch.

The Kunstwerk Krastal in Einöde by Villach has been organizing symposiums in the quarry as an association since 1967. Based on its forty years of activity in this sculpture location, it will show large sculptures by international sculptors juxtaposed with works by artists from the association Kunstwerk Krastal. In the sculpture house itself, works by Herbert Golser, Meina Schellander, and others will be on display.

In cooperation with the Carinthian Summer and the Music Academy, works by visual artists will also be sh