Gerti Deutsch/Ilija Trojanow
IMAGINATION AND APPEARANCE

A dark, empty room. The writer Ilija Trojanow describes an unseen photograph. As we listen, the image forms within us. He hear him talk about a high wall, and we imagine a high wall. We hear him describe a classroom, and in our minds we furnish this room with the benches and green chalkboard of our memories. Then the photograph is revealed and we realize there are three images: the image within us, the image as the writer sees it, and the photograph as it now appears before our eyes. A game that plays with perception. Amazed, perhaps a bit startled, we realize how much the wall and the classroom differ from the irrefutable document of the photograph. An astonishing lesson about that which we all are well aware of, but which seems to be quickly forgotten in political discourse: there are as many realities as there are perceivers. Each of us sees the same thing and construes it differently. What helps us as a society is to be aware of this.

Gerti Deutsch

The images in this exhibition were taken by the Austrian-British photographer Gerti Deutsch. Having fled Vienna as a Jew in the 1930s to escape the rise of National Socialism, she quickly established herself as a successful photojournalist in London. She reported from Japan, France, and Italy, and various trips always led her back to Tyrol and Vorarlberg. During a stay of several months in the mountain farming village of Alpbach, she extensively documented the local day-to-day life of that time. These and other pictures are being shown for the first time as part of the INN SITU series. The focus of the show is on noncommissioned works that formally and aesthetically extend beyond their time. Enlarged contact sheets reveal the photographer to be a virtuoso of image composition. Along with the Magnum photographer Inge Morath, Gerti Deutsch ranks as one of the most important early figures in the history of Austrian-British art photography.

©Gerti Deutsch

Ilija Trojanow was born in Bulgaria. In 1971, he fled with his family to Germany via Yugoslavia and Italy. After moving to various places around the world, he now lives in Vienna. His multifaceted work ranges from the poetic novel to the militant essay. His most recent publications are “Tausend und ein Morgen” (S. Fischer) and “Das Buch der Macht” (Die Andere Bibliothek).

©Thomas Dorn

This exhibition was produced in cooperation with FOTOHOF archiv, Salzburg, where the artist’s estate is managed and maintained.

Trio Peter Madsen (Piano), Adrian Mears (Posaune / Didgeridoo), Claudio Spieler (Percussion)

As always at INN SITU, the concert format is a specially developed response to the exhibition: The focus this time has been conceived by the pianist Peter Madsen, who lived and worked in Vorarlberg for many years.

Peter Madsen

©Gerhard Klocker

Now living in Toronto, the pianist is one of the most influential musicians in Vorarlberg. He taught at the Jazzseminar Dornbirn for twenty years. His most famous student to date is David Helbock. In Vorarlberg he founded the Collective of Improvising Artists (CIA) and developed numerous series such as his live silent movie soundtracks. Peter has toured and continues to tour the world with such performers as Stan Getz, Mario Pavone, or Kiyoto Fujiwara, to name a few. He has released more than 140 albums to date and composed over 500 pieces.

For this project, the New York-born musician developed a special format: He projects selected images from the exhibition into the concert hall. Each of the three musicians plays a solo to two images, while the other two musicians respond with improvisations. The two main elements in Maciej Markowicz’s work provide the framework for the musical interpretation: the bridge as the vantage point and the continuous flow of the water.

Adrian Mears

He was named best Australian Trombonist and his band Best Australian Jazz Group. He composes for various jazz ensembles, chamber orchestras, choirs, a classical brass ensemble as well as for documentary films. Adrian has worked with such legends as McCoy Tyner, Klaus Doldinger, Kenny Wheeler, Carla Bley, or Steve Swallow. From 2000 to 2009, he was a member of the Vienna Art Orchestra. In addition to his concert performances with the Adrian Mears Electric Trio, he is also a professor at the Jazzcampus Basel.

Claudio Spieler

©Salar Baygan

He studied classical percussion in Austria, continuing his training in Hakim Ludin’s master class from 2004 to 2012. Today Claudio’s diverse musical style ranges from South Indian music and flamenco to Afro-Cuban music, jazz, pop, and Islandic folk music. In concerts and on concert tours with his current formations, including the Austrian Syndicate, Tevana, and the Groovetrotters, he graces international stages at the Reykjavik Jazz Festival, Flamenco Biënnale Nederland, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, or at the Wiener Konzerthaus, among others.