Isa Rosenberger

In her works, the Austrian artist Isa Rosenberger examines radical political changes and their social and economic consequences, with the developments in post-socialist Europe as the main focus of her artistic-aesthetic analyses. The starting point of Rosenberger's investigations are often ideologically charged architectural and monumental manifestations in urban space and its public spheres, for the reason that they exemplarily reveal the changes in the prevailing orders of perception. In order to retrace these changes, the artist enters into a communicative process of exchange with contemporary witnesses living there, asking them about their personal experiences and views of (recent) historical events. The discussion partners not only remain protagonists, however, but repeatedly become co-authors as, for example, in the work "Ein Denkmal für das Frauenzentrum (Making Off)", created within the frame of a project grant for Shrinking Cities in cooperation with the Frauenzentrum Wolfen (women's centre). Rosenberger regards the actual void, created by tearing down a socialist monument for female workers in front of a disused film chemical plant, as a symbolic one as well, as the sign of a lost identity after the elimination of socialist ideals and the loss of jobs. The void is taken as an occasion to question role images together with the former female workers and to search for ways of new appropriation and occupation.

In "Nový Most" (2008), too, the official history of a state - in this case today's Slovakia - is challenged by the personal stories of three women. By juxtaposing subjective views and everyday biographies with the canonised representations of history, Rosenberger examines the construction of reality and the power of images related to it. By way of revealing the relationship between interiorised, mental images and public images staged by the media, she seeks to create alternative interpretations of a fixed past and present and in this way to allow established stories to be newly reflected upon.

Rosenberger documents places and conversations using photography and video. Yet she combines these documentations with fictional contents and mises-en-scène, so that her works never remain merely in the field of theoretical debate. The value she places on the visual-aesthetic experience is also shown in that the photos and films are not conceived for isolated presentations but embedded in spatial installations.

Isa Rosenberger, "Nový Most", 2008, installation view Wiener Secession, chipboard model / video screening; photo: Werner Kaligofsky

Isa Rosenberger, "Nový Most", 2008, videostill

Curriculum vitae

Isa Rosenberger, "Ein Denkmal für das Frauenzentrum (Making Of)", 2005/2006, installation view Wiener Secession, room divider / pedestal / video screening; photo: Werner Kaligofsky

Isa Rosenberger, "Ein Denkmal für das Frauenzentrum (Making Of)", 2005/2006, videostill

Isa Rosenberger, "Ein Denkmal für das Frauenzentrum (Making Of)", 2005/2006, videostill

Solo Exhibitions, Projects (Selection)

Gruppenausstellungen und Video-Screenings (Auswahl)

Publications (Selection)

Awards and Scholarships