"Riders on the storm" is a reappraisal of class differences in terms of property. It points out the displacement of foreigners from public space as well as splendor that does not exist for anyone. Irony is defined as a paradoxical constellation, in this case the relationship of ownership – on the one hand a tracksuit, on the other extravagant furnishings.
The origin of the meaning of tracksuits as revolt is situated in the Olympic Games in the summer of 1986, when two African-American athletes - Tommie Smith and John Carlos - performed the Black Power salute on the podium. Joanne Turney comments: "This firmly situated the tracksuit as the clothing of the competitor, both athletic and social, and thus was imbued with rebellion. The competitor may be hidden beneath the nylon, but he is still there, waiting to fight, to compete and perhaps to gain an element of recognition through actually ‘being seen’.”
A challenge to conformism, which refers to the past through nostalgia and ignores current material inequalities. The title counteracts the permanence of the representative Art Deco interior with the nomadization of property, in which these expensive rooms never find an occupant. The actors appropriate the space and place themselves in a mediating position, a mediation in which the visibility of the subject becomes unavoidable.
This series was created as part of the cooperative project "WIE WIR (NICHT) LEBEN" with Arbeiterkammer Vienna.
As part of the eponymous urban exhibition, which was on view from June 26 to September 1, 2024, at various locations across Vienna, RIDERS ON THE STORM was presented in Atelier3 Kulturankerzentrum in 1210 Vienna.
