Poésie des passages. Cathrin Pichler and her projects Hommage à Antonin Artaud, The Moderns and TransAct

Cathrin Pichler’s pioneering work in the fields of art and sciences is characterized by its sensibility and innovation in interdisciplinary thinking and in connecting artistic and scientific research at a very early stage. Since the 1980s she designed and curated large thematic exhibitions and projects which to this day are reactivated as effective communication tools and oppositional cells of thought that were planted by her.

In a joint panel discussion with Felicitas Thun-Hohenstein, Susanne Neuburger, Rainer Fuchs and Kaspar Mühlemann Hartl, all of whom worked with Cathrin Pichler, explore three central projects in Pichler's oeuvre.The exhibition Hommage à Antonin Artaud (mumok, 2002) was the first exhibition to present the work of the French artist, theatermaker and theorist in its entirety. The Moderns - Revolutions in Art and Science 1890-1935 (mumok, 2010) looked at scientific developments and findings that influenced a modern understanding of society and read these in consonance with artistic currents of the same period. TransAct - Transnational Activities in the Cultural Field brought together contributions from over 100 artists, intellectuals and scientists in the newspaper Der Standard as a protest against the government participation of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and its exclusionist policies.