Franz Kapfer
Franz Kapfer (mag. art, b. 1971 in Austria) lives and works in Vienna. Kapfers’ artistic practice encompasses a range of media, from painting and drawing to photography, performance, installation and video. Kapfer is a participant in the 5th Gherdëina Biennale, Ortisei, 2016; the Kiev Biennale, Kiev, 2015; the Busan Biennale, Busan 2012; and, as part of Franz West Extroversion, the 54th Biennale di Venezia, Venice 2011. He participated in international residencies at, among others in Jerusalem 2021/22/23; Istanbul 2018; Mexico City 2014; Paris 2011; Tirana 2008; Rome 2003. Next upcoming solo show in 2024 at Halle für Kunst Steiermark, Graz. In the last years he had exhibitions at Halle für Kunst Steiermark, Graz; Lentos Linz; museumORTH, Orth; Sala Omnia, Bucharest; Würtembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart; EVN collection, Plovdiv; Kunsthaus Graz; Zeta Art Center & Gallery, Tirana; 21er Haus, Vienna; Castle Grafenegg; Museum Hartberg; Biennale Gherdëina 5, Ortisei; Musa, Vienna; GFZK, Leipzig; Kyiv Biennial 2015, Kyiv; National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow; Leopold Museum, Vienna; Europarat Straßburg; Depo, Jewish Bakery and Austrian Cultural Forum, Istanbul; Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest; Galerie Arte Antonio López Sáenz, Culiacán; Lentos, Linz; Busan Biennale 2012, Museum of Art, Busan; Gallery of Contemporary Art, Nowy Sącz; Museum of Contemporary Art Kraków, Kraków; Universalmuseum Joanneum, Trautenfels; Augarten Contemporary, Vienna; Landesgalerie Linz; Kunstpavillon, Innsbruck; Slought Foundation, Philadelphia; Tica Tirana; Belvedere, Vienna; Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg; Hohenlohe Gallery, Vienna; Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Wörlen, Passau; Österreichisches Kulturforum, Roma; Galeria Communale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Roma; Expo 2000, Alte Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover among others.
H.K.W.Waffenschmiede [H.K.W.Armourer]
2023,
Multipart installation
The relationship between power and masculinity and the way they are displayed in ritual, political or everyday actionsform a central theme in Franz Kapfer’s work. Referencing role models from 1970s performance art, he uses an alter ego to question stereotypical constructions of masculinity as well as male sexuality and the sociopolitical environment from which the sometimes toxic concepts of manhood arise. In the Austrian context this is, for example, Catholicism with its traditional image of the family and sometimes archaic rituals of masculinity, which are also extremely important for right-wing extremist movements. In the installation Im Rücken die Ruinen von Europa [At My Back, the Ruins of Europe] (2019 21), the artist devoted himself to the history of such extremist symbols and traced, for example, the origin of the lambda symbol of the «Identitarian» movement back to antiquity. For the Kyiv Biennial, Franz Kapfer has set up a branch of H.K.W.Waffenschmiede [H.K.W.Armourer], which he founded. It is open to the public and invites visitors to watch as the artist pedantically crafts «firearms». The shape and size of the objects underline the immensity and fascination of power; in the very end, everything is supposed to result in the production of «miracle weapons». (Christa Benzer)
HKW-Waffenschmiede, c: Kapfer, Bildrechte Wien 2023.
H.K.W. Armorer
2023,
Multipart installation