Nicole Streitler-Kastberger
The Man Without Qualities

The exhibition Future of Melancholia reflects on the contradictory interplay between nostalgia and a belief in progress which can be traced in the artistic activities in cities such as Belgrade, Vienna and Graz. Set against the backdrop of melancholy, it attempts to pick up on the diffuse mood that oscillates between a longing for tradition and a dreamy idealism.

It is precisely this mixed situation that is somewhat reminiscent of the early 20th century, particularly the 1920s to 1930s, and also of a famous chapter from Robert Musil’s epochal work The Man Without Qualities (1930) which states ​“If there is a sense of reality, there must also be a sense of possibility.” Musil’s protagonist Ulrich evades serious commitment to absolutely everything in life in order to keep new options and constellations open. This sense of possibility, which Musil described as a parallel action to reality in view of the downfall of the K&K monarchy and his Kakania (the name Musil coined for imperial Austria) during the transition to modernity, also contains a strong tendency towards a melancholy view of the world that shifts between doubt, envy, resentment, self-hatred and irony, but also devotion, suggestion and zeal, and also contains a great deal productive power.

Robert Musil’s novel The Man Without Qualities (1930÷32) is a compendium of early 20th century European culture: a novel that transcends all boundaries; those of the narrative, contemporary history, and the discursive. This book has been described as ​“interdiscursive” because it brings together many discourses of the time, with questions that are still relevant to us today, such as how to live the right life and the nature of sanity. Which qualities should we strive for and which should we rather not? Ulrich’s ​“vacation from life” bears comparisons to modern institutional practices such as parental leave or sabbaticals. These are contemporary pauses that some would prefer to do away with. However, we often need retreat and distance in order to redefine our relationship to the world, our being in the world. Last but not least, Musil’s novel poses the question of the relationship between action and reflection, first elaborated by Aristotle as the vita activa and vita contemplativa.