AB Gallery is opening the new season with two exceptional solo exhibitions: 'Was tun, wenn’s brennt' by the renowned Austrian artist Tanja Boukal and 'Movement' by young Egyptian artist Mina Nasr. In their works, Boukal and Nasr transcend boundaries and deal with social and cultural questions and backgrounds. In this article we present 'Was tun, wenn’s brennt'.

image Tanja Boukal / Unfinished 26, series of 75 parts, since 2012, Embroidery on canvas, 21 x 31 cm each / Courtesy of AB Gallery

image Tanja Boukal / Unfinished, series of 75 parts, since 2012, Embroidery on canvas, 21 x 31 cm each / Courtesy of AB Gallery

'Was tun, wenn’s brennt' ('What to do if hell breaks loose') is the core question of Tanja Boukal's work. The artist has been travelling regularly to crisis regions for five years. In places such as Egypt, Greece, Columbia, Lampedusa, Mellila (Spain) or Sarajevo she tries to find out which strategies people use when nothing is working, when there is a fire. The artist concerns herself with the local situation and develops her artistic themes from there. It is however not her goal to offer solutions.“I deal with people, their situations and their strategies. In my work I do not want to show the negative aspects, but draw attention to the things people do to change their situation or at least attempt to change it.”, Boukal says.

image Tanja Boukal, Rewind: Revolution 03, 2013 , Engraved Plexiglas mounted on c-print on Plexiglas, 25 x 37 cm / Courtesy of AB Gallery

image Tanja Boukal, Rewind: Revolution 06, 2013 , Engraved Plexiglas mounted on c-print on Plexiglas, 25 x 37 cm / Courtesy of AB Gallery

image Tanja Boukal, Rewind: Revolution 08, 2013 , Engraved Plexiglas mounted on c-print on Plexiglas, 25 x 37 cm / Courtesy of AB Gallery

Influenced by her professional training as a stage designer and art embroiderer, Boukal has been working mainly with sculpture and installation since the mid-1990s. For a couple of years photographs have been the basis of her work. Since 2007 she has increasingly used soft textile material to portray the people and their 'tough' circumstances such as revolutions, wars or refugee crises. Besides common media like photography, Boukal employs embroidery, knitting and sewing techniques or works on exceptional material and surfaces such as bricks or walls. Her aim is to make the observer approach the difficult subject matter via familiar material, to deal with it and thus overcome the distance to it.

image Tanja Boukal, All That Glitter and Gold: Wien, 2010, Knitting on stretcher frame, Acrylic yarn, 100 x 120 cm / Courtesy of AB Gallery

image Tanja Boukal, Glück & Glas, 2010, Chandelier, Plexiglas, Size variabel approx. 400 cm / Courtesy of AB Gallery

Tanja Boukal

Tanja Boukal (*1976, lives and works in Vienna) is the youngest Austrian artist ever to have been dedicated a solo exhibition in the Museum der Moderne Salzburg. Her works were shown in the exhibition 'Political Correctness' until early March 2014. This year the artist is represented in 11 further international exhibitions. At the moment her works are shown in the exhibition 'Am Seidenen Faden', part of the exhibition series 'Der Menscheit Würde'. The exhibition started at the museum MUSA in Vienna and will be shown in Sarajevo from June 28 and in Brünn in fall. During the month of photography entitled 'Eyes On' from October 27 to November 30, 2014, her series 'Rewind:Obersalzberg' will be presented at the museum MUSA in Vienna, followed by another exhibition in the DarbCenter1718 in Cairo, Egypt, from December 21.


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