© Videonale e.V.
* 1972 in Lienz AUT, lives in Vienna AUT
Studied at Cooper Union, New York USA, at Akademie der Bildenden Künste Wien AUT and at Universität Wien AUT
Exhibitions [selection]:
2012 BAWAG contemporary, Wien AUT [S]
Tsunami architecture, OK Centrum Linz AUT
2011 Dear Thick & Thin, ME contemporary, Kopenhagen DEN
2010 CCA, Ujazdowski castle, Warschau POL [S]
Documentary Fortnight exhibition, MOMA, New York USA
2009 Mexico 68, De Vleeshal, Middelburg NED [S]
See this Sound, Lentos Museum Linz AUT cat
2008 Mexico 68, Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico City MEX [S]
Rom Report, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe GER
2007 Mexico 68, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck AUT [S]
Die Blaue Blume, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz AUT
In her documentary, Heidrun Holzfeind portrays the Za Zelazna Brama residential complex in central Warsaw. Built on the ruins of the former ghetto, this was once considered the epitome of communist architecture, a luxurious and desirable place to live. The artist interviews various inhabitants of the apartment block, either in their homes or on the building’s forecourt. She herself remains anonymous and does not interrupt the narration, making her more a journalist than an artist. In the spatial confinement meet isolation and proximity, lack of prospects and future and frustration and contentment. Throughout the years, the exterior architecture has not changed, but the inhabitants have organized themselves into their own social community and have fitted out the apartments according to their own needs. Holzfeind draws a comprehensive picture of the inhabitants’ everyday life as a community in this residential complex that seems itself to be a small town, trying to assert itself against Warsaw’s new skyscrapers: all the residents see their future in Za Zelazna Brama where, for some people, a balcony is the only thing that seems to be missing.
Annette Block