May 28th 2002
Vienna – Austria
Proyecto Filoctetes was first carried out in the city of Vienna, on May 28th 2002, as part of the Forum Festwochen’s program of the Wiener Festwochen Festival, curated by Marie Zimmermann. The urban intervention took place from 9 am to 3 pm. The seminar, organized before this action, was attended by young local and international artists —mainly from Eastern European countries. The artistic action immediately generated great interest and controversy among audiences and the Viennese media. At the end of this experience, the audience and the artists met at a press conference to confront and exchange ideas. The photographs and the video footage that documented the events on the day of the intervention were exhibited at the seminars’ workspace.
Lemnos in Vienna
May 28th 2002. Vienna, Austria
Wiener Festwochen / Forum Festwochen
Curator Marie Zimmermann
Concept & Creation: Emilio García Wehbi
Documentation & Production: Maricel Alvarez
Design of puppets: Norberto Laino
Assistant: Julieta Potenze
Producer (Wiener Festwochen Festival): Ulrich Gehmacher
Workshop participants
Susanna Bihari, Ulli Bresan, Giulia Bressan, Olga Brigadnova, Marcin Brozowski, Zvetlana Charova, Anna Maria Cucu, Ulrich Dertschei, Patrizia Ebner, Robert Eichhorn, Rafaela Fusz, Javor Gardev, Alexander Geier, Cornelia Gellrich, Dominik Gocumyan, Katharina Grantner, Martina Gredler, Daniala Gronold, Hans Gruber, Christoph Haas, Sandra Haider, Christina Hiptmayr, Anna Hofbauer, Anna Hofmann, Ijerka Hribar, Natalia Issakina, Oliver Jagosch, Alexander Jazenko, Gabriele Konrad, Petra Kraxner, Kurt Kuball, Anna Katharina Laggner, Julia Lautner, Marlene Leberer, Lilith Eileen Matthews, Johannes Matuschka, Sascha Mayrhofer, Georg Molterer, Gerald Naderer, Jutta Niederstätter, Nick Oberthaler, Helene Öttl, Sylvia Petrovic, Rosemarie Pilz, Johanna Maria Preissler, Darren Pritchard, Stefan Prucker, Johannes Rhomberg, Johann Ruber, Saskya Rudigier, Philipp Scholze, Valentin Sidorov, Silvia Siegl, Ute Springer, Sophia Stepf, Sakura Tanaka, Ula Tarasiewic, Alexei Telech, Sabine Tinhof, Caroline Welzl, Kristin Werl, Christiane Wiegand, Andreas Wiesbauer, Tanja Wögerbauer, Karin Zogmayer.
Locations
- The Wiener Prater
- Mariahilferstrasse & Stiftgasse
- Neubaugasse & Lindengasse
- Westbahnstrasse & Kaiserstrasse
- Subway station Westbahnhof (Line U6) / Tram station (Line 58)
- Mariahilfenstrasse & Zieglerstrasse
- Reumanplatz, between Tichy Str. & Amalienbad Str.
- Favoritenstrasse & Erlachgasse
- Südtirolerplatz
- Meidingerhaupstrasse
- Meidlingerplatz
- Kennedybrücke
- Amtshaus
- Subway station Loritz Platz
- Elterleinplatz
- Brunnenmarkt
- Elterleinplatz
- Alterlaa
Gallery
Critics have cited Giorgio Agamben’s work in their reviews of Project Filoctetes because they find particular resonance with his inter- pretation of “bare life”—life that has not entered the political—and its foundational exclusion from Western politics. In a sense, Filoctetes seems to perform the visibilization of “bare life” in the reinsertion of marginalized bodies in the urban sphere of Buenos Aires.
(Brenda Werth, “Theatre, Performance and Memory Politics in Argentina”)
The project deals with the limit, a borderline of art in regards to the public space. Under what excuses is it licit to produce or place art in public space? Who determines the ethical or moral criteria to allow art to public space? The idea of “good taste”? The concept of “political correcction”? The concept of “danger”?
(Emilio García Wehbi, "Some considerations about Filoctetes Project)
“In my opinion, this action has nothing to do with art or culture. Therefore I am not willing to support such actions with my hard-earned money. I wonder from which diseased brain an idea such as this could have come from.” / “Meiner Meinung nach hat so eine Aktion weder mit Kunst noch Kultur etwas zu tun. Somit bin ich auch nicht bereit, mit meinem hart verdienten Geld solche Aktionen zu unterstützen. Ich frage mich, welchen kranken Gehirn so eine Idee nur entspringen kann”.
(Letter addressed to the organization of the Wiener Festwochen)