Context

What is Europe?
Constanze Itzel 

Please note that this video is available in German.

German art historian Dr. Constanze Itzel poses the question of the essence of Europe and talks about possible foundations of a common European heritage.

In her lecture, Constanze Itzel questions ideological concepts in relation to Europe and specifically to the current exhibition Europe: Ancient Future. Engaging with a possible construction of European heritage, Itzel asks: what is Europe? What do we Europeans recognize as part of a common heritage and what not? As museum director at the House of European History in Brussels, Itzel explores the history of Europe along the exhibition there and, referring back to various exhibits, points to the constructed nature of heritage, history, and identity. In her lecture, she further explores such questions and searches for hidden histories: Is there something unifying between the states of the Union?

Dr. Constanze Itzel (*1974 Nürnberg, lives in Brussels) is a German art historian and director of the House of European History in Brussels since 2017. From 1993 to 1998, Itzel studied art history as well as French and Italian literature at the universities of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Nantes, and Heidelberg. She received her PhD from the University of Heidelberg and was a scholarship holder of the state of Baden-Württemberg, working at the Heidelberg Central Institute for Art History as well as for the Scientific Service and for the Cultural Committee of the European Parliament.

More contributions

Diedrich Diederichsen
Vortrag 

Video

On the basis of his contribution to the publication, conceived against the backdrop of Poledna’s film produced in Los Angeles in the summer of 2024 especially for the exhibition at HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark, Diederichsen will discuss and present Mathias Poledna’s artistic career with references to music and art history as well as pop culture.

Diedrich Diederichsen

Karel Císař
Lecture 

Video

In this lecture, Císař will explore Mathias Poledna’s career and artistic practice against the backdrop of the current exhibition, which can also be understood as a kind of retrospective. 

Karel Císař – Lecture

Mathias Poledna
Exhibition Tour 

Slide show

Mathias Poledna has created a complex, multi-layered body of work in which films, expansive installations and architectural interventions are in constant dialog with each other, where independent series of works, found objects and ephemeral materials all condense to form a singular artistic language. Central to his practice are questions of modernity, cultural memory and the visual imaginary in art and popular culture.

Ausstellungsrundgang Mathias Poledna

STAGES
Jakob Kolb aka On Bells

Video

The STAGES format is as radical as it is simple. HALLE FÜRKUNST Steiermark offers a platform for artists from the immediate vicinity for the duration of an evening. The exhibition hall is intended to… 

Stages Jakob Kolb

Performance Total Romance: Partial Repair
Isabel Lewis, Dirk Bell with vocalist, performer and artist Rupert Enticknap and performer and pole dancer Yann Slattery 

Video

The performance Total Romance: Partial Repair is the centerpiece of Isabel Lewis and Dirk Bell’s joint exhibition Ever/​Repair at HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark, and is performed by four performers. In… 

Performance Total Romance: Partial Repair Isabel Lewis, Dirk Bell with vocalist, performer and artist Rupert Enticknap and performer and pole dancer Yann Slattery