Artist Tour with Franz Kapfer 

Franz Kapfer’s works are often preceded by long periods of varied research, which is not only based on historiography in literature, but is also always fed by his own experience. He travels to different places, visits architecture and tries to discover new contexts through encounters and impressions. This event will focus on the various steps and considerations that the artist makes while producing new works, and aims to enter to initiate a discussion on the basis of the works shown at HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark. As part of this conversational tour, Kapfer talks about his travels to North Korea after being invited to take part in the Busan Biennale in South Korea.

Despite being constantly monitored during this trip, and therefore seeing only a fraction of the country as precisely determined by the Korean government, Kapfer seized the journey to develop a new work. In stark contrast to Western-oriented South Korea, North Korea is an authoritarian dictatorship. Its dynasty has appointed rulers such as Kim Jong-un and Kim Jong-il, repeatedly placing itself in a line of succession of historical leaders from the Korean empire, which lasted until 1910. The instrumentalization of the historical ruling dynasty by the current military dictatorship of the Kim family is the central motif of Before the Law.

The instrumentalization of the historical ruling dynasty by the current military dictatorship of the Kim family is the central motif of Kapfer’s work Before the Law, exhibited in Austria for the first time. The tour will also discuss other locations, such as the Louvre in Paris or a fountain on the main square in Skopje, and follows Kapfer’s view on the world, offering insight into the background to the works on display from the artist’s perspective.