Irene Andessner: Citylights [Schöne Linzerin]

111 poster lightboxes in the urban space of Linz are filled with Andessner's role portraits until 14 November 2009.

Irene Andessner slips into the role of the "Schöne Linzerin" ("Beautiful Lady of Linz") - as an iconographic re-interpretation of two historical depictions from 1810 (copper etching by J. Waldherr) and 1910 (photograph by August Sander) against a contemporary background, the glowing facade of Lentos.
The photo production was done in Lentos on 6 August 2009 with the last 20 x 24 inch (50 x 60 cm) Polaroid camera available in Europe and the last Polaroid film material that could still be obtained. The edition of Citylight posters corresponds to an art edition of identical motifs with 111 different picture titles, each one with the name of a woman living in Linz today.

Presentation: 6 October 2009, 6:00 pm in Lentos

Introduction: Stella Rollig
Opening: Dr. Erich Watzl
Patron: Monika Dobusch

The Theme: Die Schöne Linzerin - The Beautiful Lady of Linz
The (male) idea of the beauty of the women of Linz has been documented in writing since the 16th century. From the late 18th century and into the 19th century there is a trail of allusions to and remarks about this attribution, especially from German writers travelling through Linz - often in conjunction with the hat of the traditional Upper Austrian dress. The predicate of the "schöne Linzerin" does not refer to any specific woman from history.
It is postulated as a significant fact that applies to Linz (partly also to Upper Austria), communicated in a generalizing way and treated in poetry and art. The characteristic accessory of the "beautiful lady (ladies) of Linz" is the "Goldhaube", a distinctive cap decorated with gold - a detail of traditional dress from the period between Directoire, Empire and Biedermeier (dating from 1782 to 1850). As a distinguishing characteristic in the sense of early city marketing, which was also cultivated in other places (the beautiful lady of Munich, Ulm, Rome, etc.), it is usually fixed to a certain depiction presented over the course of centuries and varied according to the tastes of the era.

Irene Andessner was born in Salzburg with roots in Upper Austria through her parents. The artist, who now lives in Vienna, studied at the Academies of Fine Arts in Venice (Emilio Vedova) and Vienna (Max Weiler, Arnulf Rainer). Her main theme since 1988 has been the self-portrait, which she originally executed in the form of painting and then beginning in the mid-90s in tableaux vivants, photo and video stagings.
"The face is only mine by chance," said Irene Andessner in 1992. In Peter Sloterdijk's view, her portraits as "detraits" mark the dissolution and thus the interchangeability of artistic representations of personality (in: Sphären I, 1998). After that, self-staging with role plays took the place of the painted self-portrait. She created "replicas" of models from contemporary and art history, such as Sofonisba Anguissola or Frida Kahlo, also saints (Black Madonna), fictive persons (Rachel from Bladerunner) and modern myths (Marlene Dietrich). In the project I.M.Dietrich identification with the role goes as far as taking on the surname of the role model through a real marriage (that was annulled after the art project). As Wanda she (re-) produced the ideal image that Leopold von Sacher-Masoch had of women. In 2006 she interpreted the portrait of Mozart that has been handed down, but is questionable in its authenticity (I.A. Mozart(?)). She transformed the "Hall of Famous Men" in Cafe Florian (Venice) into a "Salon of Illustrious Women", the paternoster in the House of Industry (Vienna) into a "Maternoster" (mater nostra).
The action Citylights [Schöne Linzerin] is part of the work ensemble Citylights (Citylights [Viennese Women] 2008; Citylights [Salzburg Women] 2009).