Exhibition:
Mario Kiesenhofer – Skarb

Mario Kiesenhofer works with photography, video, text, and installation, emphasizing the visibility of queer communities and their safe spaces. For his solo exhibition Skarb at the Austrian Cultural Forum Warsaw, the artist presents selected photographs from his series Treasure, capturing the queer electronic music scene in Eastern Europe with a focus on Warsaw. Bathed in colored light Mario Kiesenhofer's images reflect a party culture in which the techno scene of the 1990s is experiencing a revival while simultaneously making a highly resistant and political claim. The club becomes an inclusive place of protest, the dance floor a stage for queerness in increasingly illiberal systems.

Mario Kiesenhofer's exhibition at the Austrian Cultural Forum Warsaw is curated by Stanisław Welbel. Treasure was first exhibited at the Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien in 2023/24 and curated by Lisa Ortner-Kreil.

Mario Kiesenhofer was born in Freistadt/Upper Austria in 1984. He lives and works in Vienna and studied photography and video art as a student of Matthias Herrmann and Dorit Margreiter at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Numerous exhibition projects since 2016, including Sex in Vienna. Desire. Control. Transgression at the Vienna Museum (2016/17), Sensations. Closer to the People at Kunstverein Schattendorf (2019), Shifting Layers at Bildraum 01, Vienna (2021), Surroundings at Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art, New York (2022), gmunden.photo (2023) and most recently Treasure at Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien (2023/24).
www.mariokiesenhofer.com
www.instagram.com/mario_kies


14.6.2024 (Fri.), Opening 6:00 pm
During the opening there will be an artist talk between Mario Kiesenhofer and Stanisław Welbel followed by a sound performance by Avtomat.
www.instagram.com/avtomatmusic
Austrian Cultural Forum 
ul. Próżna 7/9
Warsaw
On view until 2.8.2024
Free admission

Photo: Mario Kiesenhofer, from the Series Treasure, 2023, exhibition view: Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien, 2023/24 © Mario Kiesenhofer