choi

Acts of helplessness can be observed everywhere: Cynicism and fatalism spread, people retreat into protected spaces, stick themselves to streets or works of art, the desire to "at least not do much damage" becomes a life goal – the air has become heavy with Ohnmacht. Where does Ohnmacht as a public feeling come from, what does it look like? Can anything positive grow from it?

The Archive for Ohnmacht brings together voices of activists and engaged artists from a wide range of contexts and places. We ask them: Are you familiar with the sense of “Ohnmacht“? Have you experienced moments in which you felt overwhelmed by it? How did you deal with it – and how did you keep going? 11 interviews can be listened to via speakers; those with Seyda Kurt, Mirko Messner, Livinus Nwoha, Csilla, Milo Rau (in GER), and Dóra Denerak Galyas, Nina Khyzhna and Tariq (in ENG) are available via MP3 player or online:
www.forumstadtpark.at/ohnmacht_archive

Drawings: Ivana Bugarinovic

Allow yourself an hour, or many more hours, of rest. High above Herrenstrasse at the gates of the DH5 you can sit and confess your powerlessness. At the First Linz International Pole Sitting, you can acknowledge your helplessness, your not-knowing-how-to-do-it. You can ponder in silence about God and the world and once again come to no conclusion. If you're not ready yet, there's a confession niche in the courtyard where you can confess your dogmatism unheard on a few rough, softly padded oak stools, your brazen knowledge of how to go on, how to turn things around, your dogmatism, your isolated technical decisions that you've made in your model without thinking outside the box, without making connections. When you are ready, you go outside, climb the pole, sit up and keep quiet. Back on the ground, you are no longer ashamed of your procrastination.

Gönne dir, eine oder auch viel mehr, Stunden Rast. Mach halt! Hoch oben über der Herrenstraße vor den Toren des DH5 kannst du sitzen und dich zu deiner Ratlosigkeit bekennen. Beim Ersten Linzer Internationalen Pfahlsitzen bekennst du dich zu deiner Ratlosigkeit, zu deinem Nicht-Wissen-Wie-Es-Weiter-Geht. Du kannst in alller Stille über Gott und die Welt grübeln und wieder einmal zu keinem Schluss kommen. Wenn du noch nicht so weit bist, drinnen im Hof gibt es die Beichtnische, wo du auf ein paar groben Eichenscheitern - die sanft gepolstert sind - ungehört deine Rechthaberei beichten kannst, dein dreistes Wissen, wie es weiter geht, wie man das Ruder herum reissen könnte, deine Rechthaberei, deine isolierten Fachentscheidungen, die du in deinem Modell getroffen hast, ohne über den Tellerrand zu schauen, ohne Bezüge herzustellen. Wenn du dann so weit bist, gehst du nach draußen, erklimmst den Pfahl, setzt dich rauf und schweigst. Wieder auf dem Boden schämst du dich nicht mehr für dein Zaudern.

“Eternal Glow of the Faceless God” by Diana Pankova
presents solarography - an analog photographic process in which the movement of the sun in the sky is captured. The long exposure time eliminates everything short-term and shows a world without people. Only its artifacts and “nature” can be seen. The installation is part of the choi's devotion space, which can be used for contemplative moments from September 5 - 7.

Diana Pankova, MA in Media Arts (b. 1988, Belarus) is a visual artist currently based in the Netherlands. She experiments with time, space, shape, scale and connections in between, working with varied types of cameras and photographic techniques. Her favorite artistic companions are diverse pinhole cameras. She has participated in many photographic exhibitions and led workshops around the world.

The interactive sound installation titled Δ [Delta] utilizes bio-sonification to translate complex biological data into an immersive auditory experience. By placing sensors on plants and feeding their signals into the multi-sensorial synthesizer OctoSens, the artist creates a dynamic sound composition that reacts to external stimuli. This process transforms intricate biological data into sound, offering a unique way to emotionally connect with and appreciate the natural processes within living organisms.

Miha Godec (SI,1988) is an artist, musician, photographer, videographer and lecturer. Godec has a background in natural science, a bachelor's in photography and a master's degree in new media and contemporary arts. His creative practice, which lies at the intersection of science, art and new technologies, focuses on developing new interdisciplinary projects that investigate the consequences of anthropogenic impacts on aquatic ecosystems and sonifying natural processes.

Year: 2023
Technical and development support: David Drolc, Gregor Krpič, Jakob Grčman, Simon Turnšek and other members of the OctoSens community, mentored by Václav Peloušek

Technology: Octosens, modular synthesiser, cables, sensors

Production: Projekt Atol Institute, Youth Centre Velenje

Co-production: Artevida

Supported by: konS ≡ Platform for Contemporary Investigative Art, University of California: Systemics Lab – Media Arts and Technology, Kone Foundation Finland, Arts Promotion Center Finland, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, European Regional Development Fund of the European Union, City of Ljubljana

https://godec.art/

https://www.instagram.com/godec.art/

photo by Masa Kranjc

The Bichsel Bot is an image classifier that was configured based on Peter Bichsel's short story "A table is a table". The program recognizes objects in images and labels them in the same way as the old man in Bichsel's short story. Users can interact with the program, upload images themselves and have them recognized by the program.

Fabian Navarro *1990 in Warstein, is an author, slam poet and cultural organizer. After studying German language and literature and philosophy in Hamburg, he moved to Vienna. He won the Poetry Slam State Championships for Vienna and Lower Austria in 2022 and 2023. In fall 2020, he published the anthology poesie.exe with SATYR Verlag in Berlin. His project Eloquentron3000, a bot that writes poems, was exhibited at the Vienna Museum of Technology. His second novel Miez Marple und die Pfote des Todes was published by Goldmann Verlag in November 2023.

Yoga, meditation, palo santo, raves, chewing gum. Multiple crises require multiple solutions. Chewing gum for five minutes reduces stress and stimulates blood flow to the brain. What may appear to be boredom, arrogance or coolness, Anna Weberberger turns into a daily ritual of an individual or collective nature in the Church of Ignorance.

In times of neoliberalism instead of Catholicism, it is active inactivity that promises as much inner peace as five asanas in the morning or downloading the latest health app. Every evening, Anna Weberberger chews Hubba Bubba gum for inner contemplation. She unwraps a strip of gum, begins to chew and invites the assembled community to participate. Rhythmic jaws produce viscous saliva. The ruminating search for stability congeals into a tasteless chewing mass.

With the interactive installation "We are God’s hemorrhoids 3000", visitors to the Church of Ignorance can confess their sins. Users speak their confession into a microphone, a computer analyses the spoken words with the help of artificial intelligence and then evaluates them "objectively". At the end, the users receive a printout with a rating. The more interesting and better the confession is, the more likely they are to get a discount at the bar.

Thomas Kranabetter
*1989, media designer and creative worker

Lives and works in Vienna, has been building cocktail robots for years, films music and art videos, photographs people and places, mostly builds interactive installations, exhibitions in the UK (Summerset House), USA (Fantastic Fest), Germany (Meta Marathon) and Austria (including Ars Electronica and Steirischer Herbst), writes short texts privately.

Reinhard Sprung

*1985, programmer and robot afficionado

Lives and works in Vienna, builds machines for human pleasure and entertainment, exhibitions in USA (Fantastic Fest) and Austria (Ars Electronica, Steirischer Herbst, Roboexotica), stuffs his own sausages and brews beer.
https://www.instagram.com/reinhard.sprung

To visit the workshops with limited access, we will offer a 0 € reservation ticket, but important(!), this reservation is only valid, if you own a Full Festival or a Day ticket for this day. Register here!

Workshop by Thomas Kranabetter und Sara Mlakar

Workshop participants will explore and discuss the topic of technological absurdity by designing odd interactions and odd devices. We will start with a short introduction and a brief historical overview of technical absurdities. The participants will then be divided into groups of 2 to max. 3 people. The groups will choose an old flea market device from the collection to explore, reinterpret, redesign/extend/hack and give a new context. At the end, there will be the opportunity to present the new absurd devices, how to use them, and tell their story. The workshop is open to anyone interested in the absurdity of everyday devices. No technical knowledge is required.

Thomas lives and works in Vienna, has been building cocktail robots for years, films music and art videos, photographs people and places, mostly builds interactive installations, exhibitions in the UK, USA, Germany and Austria. Writes short texts privately. Prefers to.

Thomas website: Farbausschlag.xyz
Thomas IG: @th_farbe

Sara is PhD candidate developing a design practice of Odd interactions in HCI. As an artist, she creates artifacts with unconventional interactions. As a researcher, she applies this knowledge to novel products of the future.

Sara website: saramlakar.com
Sara IG: @sara_mlakar

Max 15 people - registration is required

SANTA SANGRE - is an esoteric journey in which participants will unlearn the taboos and myths around menstrual blood and through alchemical activities they will hack, transform and enjoy the most controversial fluid of the human body. 

The ritual is open for FLINTA people with and without menstrual blood, who are welcome to bring their sexual and menstrual fluids and join our coven laboratory. 

Join us in celebrating the erotic elixir of unholy fluids.

We have been raised to feel ashamed about the dirtiness and impurity of our bodies.

We have been taught to keep certain things private, to silence our flesh, to fear the stains, the smell, the color and the liquid sensation between legs.

We have been told to suppress our desires and pleasures, to feel ashamed of exposing and getting our hands wet with our own bodily fluids.

So the time has come to forgather in new covens, under new moons.

Join us in our esoteric journey to discuss ignorance, taboo and rituals. We will transform blood and other organic materials through alchemical processes to create our own sex magick objects.  

Important information:

• blood and other fluid will be part of the ritual. Everyone will manage their own fluid and be responsable of taking care of others. If you have doubt about this you can contact us bruixeslab@gmail.com 
• ritual open only for FLINTA with or without menstruations
• be aware that nudity, erotic and porn scenes will be displace

Alma de Bruixes is a nomadic collective of biohackers witches who see little difference between a speculum and a sex toy. Weaving like a spell biomaterials, DIY biology, gynaecology and lubricants for the pleasure of self-exploration. Born from the union of ALMA Futura, which studies and develops tools for radical change in vaginal and gender health, and Bruixes-Lab, a nomadic laboratory of biohacking, sextech and witchcraft rituals. Founded by Cristina Dezi, Isabel Farina and Giulia Tomasello.

https://www.instagram.com/bruixes_lab/

https://www.instagram.com/_almafutura_/

https://almafutura.org/ 

We extend our gratitude to our lab mentor, White Feather Hunter, and all the technofeminist witches of the bioart coven to which we belong.

Together "We claim the Witches' discursive space as a useful place to build mycelial connections of solidarity and resistance, to imagine new ways of being and to manifest our discoveries and creations with a specific focus on dismantling systems of oppression."- Bioart Coven Manifesto

The Upper Austrian formation Fuckhead, whose provocative-actionistic approach often polarizes and divides opinions, has long been recognized beyond Austrian borders as a pioneer of extreme performance art. For a quarter of a century the group has been practicing their incomparable mannerisms of artistic nonconformity. Appearances that convent around the frontman Didi Bruckmayr are unparalleled in their intensity, ecstasy and physicality. Didi Bruckmayr, Siegmar Aigner, Didi Kern and Michael Strohmann play with the hyperbole of machoid masculine stereotypes and celebrate the deliberate and excessive violation of tastefulness.
For more information about choi look at the festival page, link in bio https://dh5.space/choi/
By tickets at https://kupfticket.com/events/church-of-ignorance
@fuckheadband

“It is us, Da Holi Wata, sent to redeem you. It is We who will show you the direction, the direction that will make your sweat-soaked bones walk. You will march, the ground will become your external sex, the smoke will sharpen your senses, the light will reveal itself as the holiest and your innermost will push outwards.
And the fast rhythms will let the poisons of conscience fizzle out - the disharmony will set the minus of sin back to zero. A short stay with us gives you a ticket to paradise. We swear it and guarantee it. But you have to be good afterwards.”

Artistic examination and over-identification with the subject of religion and exclusivity.

Patrick Buchinger (instruments)
Lukas Haider (instruments)

A purifying ritual by Lydia Haider, which with the band Fuckhead and the 3-min disco Da Holi Wata not only drives the audience to tears of delight within the walls of DH5, but also extends into the city as a chaotic, unpretentious procession - a procession of fools.

With  Lydia Haider, Therese Terror, Katarina Maria Trenk, Marlene Hauser, Julia Richter, Apollonia Bitzan, Jennifer Weiss

The story is as old as time itself: A pensioner from Vienna's Simmering district sets off for dental treatment in the Hungarian Puszta. During this crusade in a frail Opel Kadett, a wild flurry of worries and flashbacks to old traumas begins: Will he be able to afford the three bridges and two implants? Is the Google Maps rating, which gives the dentist only two stars, really right? And what is the equivalent of tooth decay in the decline of Austrian society. The Klangerotische Ponygarde der Pataphysischen Kirtagswitwen is the root of all treatments: With empathetic amateurism and emphatic crookedness, the nation's favorite orchestra produces an ideal set of sounds.

• Sibylle Kefer - Dirigat
• Simon Nagy - Schlagwerk
• Kristin Gruber - Trompete
• Walter Ulreich - Horn
• Silke Almesberger - Posaune
• Gertrud Riegler - Tuba
• Josefine Kuera - Altsaxophon
• Else Fernandez - Fagott
• Valentin Trandafir - Violine I
• Dominika Meindl - Violine II
• Lisie Zehender - Viola
• Julia Bayer - Violoncello
• Catharina Ballan - Kontrabass
• Isabel Stietencron - Piana
• Texte - Raphaela Edelbauer

The Klangerotische Ponygarde der pataphysischen Kirtagswitwen is the house orchestra of the Pataphysische Gesellschaft Wien, founded by Clemens Wenger and Raphaela Edelbauer and conducted this year by Sibylle Kefer.
A dilettante musical greeting will be contributed by the DH5 Senior Women's Choir, conducted by Sabine Rechberger.

Die Geschichte ist so alt wie die Zeit selbst: Ein Pensionist aus Wien Simmering bricht zu einer Zahnbehandlung in die ungarische Puszta auf. Während dieses Kreuzwegs in einem gebrechlichen Opel Kadett beginnt ein wildes Wetterleuchten an Sorgen und Rückblicken zu alten Traumata: Wird er sich die drei Brücken und zwei Implantate auch leisten können? Hat die Google-Maps-Bewertung, die dem Zahnarzt nur zwei Sterne attestiert, wirklich Recht? Und was ist das Äquivalent von Karies beim Verfall der österreichischen Gesellschaft. Die Klangerotische Ponygarde der Pataphysischen Kirtagswitwen ist die Wurzel aller Behandlungen: Mit einfühlsamem Laientum und nachdrücklicher Schieflage erzeugt das Lieblingsorchester der Nation ein Idealgebiss an Klängen.

Die Klangerotische Ponygarde der pataphysischen Kirtagswitwen ist das Hausorchester der Pataphysichen Gesellschaft Wien, und wurde von Clemens Wenger und Raphaela Edelbauer gegründet und wird heuer dirigiert von Sibylle Kefer.
Ein diletantischer musikalischer Gruss wird vom DH5 Seniorinnen Chor beigesteuert, der von Sabine Rechberger geleitet wird.

Quatsch mit SoSa are the guards in the rollercoaster house of emotions.
We ask you to get on board for a stormy ride through Deep SoSa and Quatsch Core.
Quatsch mit SoSa are Sonja Kuzmics and Sarah Maria Schmidt. They have been making songs from found lyrics, melodies for limber ears and beats for loose stomping and swaying legs since 2018. The audience is invited to doodle on their hat-shaped eggheads during their performances via a
projection of MS Paint.

Quatsch mit SoSa is a performance collective consisting of Sonja Kuzmics (AT) and Sarah Maria Schmidt (AT), who have been making music and live performances together since 2018. The focus is on live drawing practices by the audience, including projections onto them, their equipment and a screen behind them. They usually find texts on flyers, on pick-up trucks, in brochures or sometimes at the animal cemetery. Then they turn them into a song. Among other things, with a children's keyboard, a carrot rattle and a radio receiver. Sometimes they also write the lyrics themselves. Otherwise they organize bus trips, exhibitions and workshops about bugs.

Foto Oskar Wlaschitz

Gruppensex head in the sand? Never! The musical achievements of the Linz band “Gruppensex” are more like trying to put sand in your head. The results are mostly brute catchy tunes that shred through the speakers in rousing live shows.

In the songs, SUVs are driven against walls, the comeback of the 80s is cursed, mayors are vilified for structural misconduct, true love is sought (and found) in public toilets or even just shouted around for 2.5 minutes - it's Linzer Schule.

Physical properties of emergent behavior
A clip of moshing music fans
Researchers from Cornell University studied the emergent behavior of crowds at mosh pits by analyzing online videos, finding similarities with models of 2-D gases in equilibrium.[38] Simulating the crowds with computer models, they found out that a simulation dominated by flocking parameters produced highly ordered behavior, forming vortices like those seen in the videos.

Fut Fighters is a DJ duo from Linz, consisting of Nana and Claire Grube. As longtime friends, they mix techno, garage and bass house to create a rousing sound. Their energetic sets get every dance floor shaking and thrill the audience.

“LIVE, LOVE, BLEED” is a 30-minute performance by Enesi M. that explores the interplay of opposites through a fusion of Reggaeton, Baile Funk, Dance Music, and Heavy Metal. The show challenges audience perceptions by blending these diverse musical genres and incorporating the intense visual metaphor of fake blood. **Trigger Warning:** The performance includes the use of fake blood, which may be disturbing to some viewers.

Enesi M. is a vocalist, songwriter and aspiring producer who fuses heavy metal sounds with hip hop, electronic, reggaeton and baile funk rhythms. She pairs harsh, guttural vocals with raps and sung harmonies while refusing to conform to one genre and going through the whole spectrum of emotions lyrically.

https://www.instagram.com/enesi_m._/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC25d15F9DT06yMZu4eriSUw

Linsey McGoey is Professor of Sociology, with expertise in social theory and economic sociology. She is recognized internationally for playing a pioneering role in the establishment of ignorance studies, an interdisciplinary field focused on exploring how strategic ignorance and the will to ignore have underpinned economic exchange and political domination throughout history. Her research on ignorance has led to new conceptual frameworks for understanding the political value of ignorance and the unknown.

Matthias Gross is Professor of Sociology at UFZ, Helmholtz, Centre for Environmental Research.

Ignorance is often seen as a state of stupidity or denial. However, not knowing can not only be a form of protection and in everyday life decisions often need to be made before “reliable” knowledge is available. Worse, once knowledge is available the horizon of what is not known (nonknowledge) may widen. Thus, nonknowledge needs to be treated as regular and normal. What is needed are ways to present and discuss nonknowledge in an “honest” manner instead of trumpeting safety when there is none.

lecture
Anna Freudenthaler - Not-knowing in psychoanalytic theory and praxis

panel:
Sebastian Baryli – Psychoanalytical pedagogy as non-knowledge

Jasmin Kargin – Not-/knowing in the concept of perversion

Klaus Doblhammer – The unconscious and non-knwoledge

Amelie Zadeh –  Non-knowledge in dreaming

Psychoanalysis was conceived by Sigmund Freud to study a factor of human life he encountered in his clinical experience. He named this factor the unconscious: something that is known without the subject knowing that it knows about it. This constitutes the centre of psychoanalytical theory and of psychoanalysis as a treatment. The contradiction inherent in the definition of the unconscious has led psychoanalysis to be called an impossible profession: how can we know anything about it?

In recent years, the exploration of ignorance has garnered significant attention across multiple philosophical domains, particularly in the realm of epistemology. Critical epistemologists emphasize that ignorance is not merely an innocent lack of knowledge; it often serves as a political and strategic practice. Doing so is important when considering harmful and discriminatory consequences of ignorance. Yet, is ignorance as a strategic practice inherently bad? In this talk, I explore the emancipatory, positive dimensions of ignorance, particularly for marginalized groups. Doing so challenges the prevalent belief that gaining or sharing knowledge is always beneficial. Instead, I highlight situations where rejecting dissenting views or withholding information can be advantageous. Such actions can strengthen internal group cohesion and enhance the safety and well-being of vulnerable communities.

Sonja Riegler is a philosopher working at the intersection of critical feminist and political epistemology, critical race studies, and feminist philosophy of science. In her dissertation, she develops a new framework for understanding ignorance, detailing its various societal and political functions, mechanisms, causes, and effects. Sonja also works as a freelance journalist for print and radio in the fields of cultural- and science communication.

https://cpenetwork.editorx.io/home

https://univie.academia.edu/SRiegler

Foto: Joseph Krpelan

Performance

I can’t just, or I just can’t (2024) forms part of a series of performative works that Miriam Stoney has developed over the past year in collaboration with the sound artist Robert Schwarz. The series deals with performative speech acts and the way rhetorical practices shape the social subject. Here, Stoney takes up statements and expressions of humility, self-deprecation and deferral to articulate a stance of conscientious dependency and unequal exchange in relation to (often unknown, unnamed or unseen) others. Combining live video with performance and recorded sound, I can’t just, or I just can’t is a stubborn rebuttal of self-help and self-care imperatives towards more uncertain, open ends. The performance is followed by a scripted

workshop titled
You could just.

Using a script written by Stoney herself, participants are invited to adopt temporary roles in a discussion around the performance, before articulating themselves within these roles, the workshop and the public.

Miriam Stoney is a writer, artist and translator based in Vienna. She studied art history in Oxford and architectural history in London, GB. Her work is usually text-based, often performative and sometimes collaborative. Solo exhibitions have taken place at Brunette Coleman, London and Kunstverein Kevin Space, Vienna. Recent group exhibitions and performances include: Kunstverein in Hamburg; Austrian Cultural Forum London; Kunstverein München; Klosterruine Berlin; Belvedere 21 and mumok Vienna.

www.miriamstoney.com

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/miriamstoney/