Auf der Insel Bella Lella

Our projects explore social and cultural differences, particularly between Eastern and Western Europe. In our present project, which we started more than a year ago in two neighbouring towns in Austria and the Czech Republic, we collected holiday photos so we could gain access to peoples' desires and dreams, and also to their definitions of what constitutes “foreignness” and “exoticism.” Recently, we have been continuing the project in Germany as well, a country that was divided for 40 years and where the border is still tangible. In the run-up to the Biennial, we are asking people to send us their holiday photos or bring them to Werkleitz. The photos will be shown in videos, as prints and in publications. When combined, the various locations are condensed into a cartography of desires. At the same time, communication is produced – all different kinds of people meet up on the island of “Bella Lella.” The paintings are based on photographs taken while working on the project on the Czech-Austrian border.