Context

Context Art: Medical Apartheid
Harriet A. Washington 

Video

Please note that this video is available in German.
Harriet A. Washington, Medical Apartheid, The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present, Anchor Books New York, 2006.

With the book Medical Apartheid, published in 2006 by African American journalist and medical ethicist Harriet A. Washington, we turn to a dark aspect of American history. The book features a scientific examination of the offenses committed by white medical professionals against people of African descent. 

In this video contribution, we talk about how deep this issue goes historically and how the African American population is still disadvantaged in many ways today in terms of medical care and life expectancy. It also references one of Doreen Garner’s works and takes an honest look at the American ​“father of gynecology.”

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

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