THE OTHER SIDE

In 1909, Alfred Kubin’s fantastical novel Die andere Seite (The other side), for which he created 52 illustrations was published. These are vivid pendants to the literary vision, illustrating the grotesque and macabre aspects of the story as a fantastical Armageddon. The visionary nature and the manifestation of the grotesque of James Ensor (1860–1949) and Alfred Kubin (1877–1959) are echoed in contemporary art. Like the selected prints by Ensor und Kubin, the photographs, video projections, sculptures and paintings by the contemporary artists Michael Bauer, Erwin Kneihsl and Thomas Zipp take as their theme the absurdity and dark depths of human existence. They do not attempt to mimic the works of Kubin and Ensor in any formal way; instead the parallels on the level of ideas are examined.