Anna Witt
Worst fear, best fantasy
29 May 2014 – 28 June 2014
Opening: 29 May 2014 at 20:00
"What is the worst thing that could happen? What is the best thing you can imagine?"
are the concrete questions, reflected by different people in the streets of Prishtina.
Built up in a dialog, short notes and prognosis about the future are thrown at each other, creating a double-faced perspective.
Scenario thinking is a common method in strategic planning. Different scenarios are simulating chances and problems to detect weakness in a system. The worst case and the best case scenario are marking the borders of a space where everything could happen.
Different scenarios are also described in international travel advice.
They are a governmental service for travelers to provide safety information about other countries. Comparing the different countries official versions it turned out that they vary in the sensibility of used language, the severity of interpretation and sometimes are even contradictory. It seems that the official information are interwoven with individual interpretations and personal fears.
In a text based work the collected information is used to create different stories out of the same source.
Anna Witt was invited for an artist residence at AiR Stacion, the residency program developed by Stacion - Center of Contemporary Art Prishtina. The exhibition is presenting the work developed on site during the residency.
Worst fear, best fantasy, the title of the exhibition is also title of the central work part of the exhibition.
Worst fear, best fantasy is a 2 channel video-installation, showing two times the same persons imaging one time a worst case and one time a best case scenario of a private, social of political topic they want to talk about.
Scenario planning is a strategy planning method used in the economy but also in politics to make flexible long term plans for the future.
Starting from her interest in the countries international public perception created by media, rumors and official sources, Anna Witt did a research about the different countries governmental travel advice.
Anna Witt, born in 1981 in Germany, lives and works in Vienna.
Working with performative intervention and video installation, her practice deals with the construction of cultural stereotypes and individuals positioning within social systems. Her works ambivalently sit between fictional re-enactment and documentary staging and represent the problematic of subject-formation in relation to identity politics, collectivity and citizenship rights.
Recently her work has been shown at Galerie Tanja Wagner, Berlin, 2014 (solo show),
An I for an Eye, Austrian Cultural Forum, New York , Risc Society, MOCA Museum of Contemporary ArtTaipei, Taiwan; Fremd & Eigen, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck ; Emscherkunst 13, Triennale Ruhrgebiet (Kat.); Over the Rainbow, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen; We only dream of places and resistance, for now, Lux/ICA Biennial of Moving Images, London
In 2013 she received the BC21 Art Award from Boston Consulting and Belvedere Contemporary, Vienna.
Anna Witt: Worst fear, best fantasy at Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina is supported by: Austrian Ministry of Education and Culture (BMUKK), Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of the Republic of Kosovo, Directorate for Culture, Youth and Sports of the Municipality of Prishtina, X-print and DZG.
Worst fear, best fantasy
29 May 2014 – 28 June 2014
Opening: 29 May 2014 at 20:00
"What is the worst thing that could happen? What is the best thing you can imagine?"
are the concrete questions, reflected by different people in the streets of Prishtina.
Built up in a dialog, short notes and prognosis about the future are thrown at each other, creating a double-faced perspective.
Scenario thinking is a common method in strategic planning. Different scenarios are simulating chances and problems to detect weakness in a system. The worst case and the best case scenario are marking the borders of a space where everything could happen.
Different scenarios are also described in international travel advice.
They are a governmental service for travelers to provide safety information about other countries. Comparing the different countries official versions it turned out that they vary in the sensibility of used language, the severity of interpretation and sometimes are even contradictory. It seems that the official information are interwoven with individual interpretations and personal fears.
In a text based work the collected information is used to create different stories out of the same source.
Anna Witt was invited for an artist residence at AiR Stacion, the residency program developed by Stacion - Center of Contemporary Art Prishtina. The exhibition is presenting the work developed on site during the residency.
Worst fear, best fantasy, the title of the exhibition is also title of the central work part of the exhibition.
Worst fear, best fantasy is a 2 channel video-installation, showing two times the same persons imaging one time a worst case and one time a best case scenario of a private, social of political topic they want to talk about.
Scenario planning is a strategy planning method used in the economy but also in politics to make flexible long term plans for the future.
Starting from her interest in the countries international public perception created by media, rumors and official sources, Anna Witt did a research about the different countries governmental travel advice.
Anna Witt, born in 1981 in Germany, lives and works in Vienna.
Working with performative intervention and video installation, her practice deals with the construction of cultural stereotypes and individuals positioning within social systems. Her works ambivalently sit between fictional re-enactment and documentary staging and represent the problematic of subject-formation in relation to identity politics, collectivity and citizenship rights.
Recently her work has been shown at Galerie Tanja Wagner, Berlin, 2014 (solo show),
An I for an Eye, Austrian Cultural Forum, New York , Risc Society, MOCA Museum of Contemporary ArtTaipei, Taiwan; Fremd & Eigen, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck ; Emscherkunst 13, Triennale Ruhrgebiet (Kat.); Over the Rainbow, Kunstmuseum St. Gallen; We only dream of places and resistance, for now, Lux/ICA Biennial of Moving Images, London
In 2013 she received the BC21 Art Award from Boston Consulting and Belvedere Contemporary, Vienna.
Anna Witt: Worst fear, best fantasy at Stacion - Center for Contemporary Art Prishtina is supported by: Austrian Ministry of Education and Culture (BMUKK), Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of the Republic of Kosovo, Directorate for Culture, Youth and Sports of the Municipality of Prishtina, X-print and DZG.