The concept for the years 2026 to 2030 refers to ancient Greek theatre, in particular to the chorós, which acted as a collective voice between the audience and the protagonists. In the Shedhalle, the chorós functions as a dramaturgical method and curatorial tool for reflecting on current social challenges. Embodied by various characters, it enters into a critical dialogue with the programme and its mediation. Strategies of linguistic resistance from feminist, queer and decolonial perspectives are used in response to a time in which language is increasingly becoming a weapon and losing its clarity.
Exhibitions are understood as ‘stagings’ that combine elements of theatre and exhibition design in physical-affective constellations. The audience is conceived as an active part of the process. A central element is the ‘Re-props’ display concept: transformable, reusable modules that create a flexible and resource-saving infrastructure and enable creative solutions under limited conditions.
Thematically, the programme addresses pressing issues of our time – from political reality and technology to intimacy and transience. It pursues a multi-layered approach that does not simplify complexity but makes it tangible on different levels. Art is understood as a tool for political dialogue: as a space for debate and as a means of breaking the ‘algorithmic spell’ and re-establishing relationships between people.
Laura Amann Marín is a curator and architect with Austrian-Chilean roots. She’s a graduate of the de Appel Curatorial Programme in Amsterdam and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. From 2019 to 2024, she was part of the curatorial team at the Kunsthalle Wien under the direction of the collective WHW. She has also taught at the Institute of Art and Design at the Vienna University of Technology.
Jen Kratochvil is a curator from the Czech Republic. From 2021 to 2024, they were director of the Kunsthalle Bratislava. Previously, they worked at various institutions and independent platforms, including the Rudolfinum Gallery, the National Gallery in Prague, Plato Ostrava, the m3 Festival, the Fotograf Festival or the Entrance Gallery. They have also taught at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava and currently teach at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
Laura Amann Marín and Jen Kratochvil tested their collaborative practice over a period of four years in the Significant Other project space they founded in Vienna in 2017. There, they addressed questions of institutional hierarchies and the relationship between off-space and museum. Their goal was to build bridges by juxtaposing the former West and the former East in order to demonstrate the possibility of an equal dialogue.
Download: 2025_05_Medienmittteilung_Neues Kuratorium Shedhalle
