JANUS
Katrin Hornek and Karin Pauer, JANUS, Pictured: Camilla Schielin, Belvedere
21, 2025, Photo: Hanna Fasching
With JANUS, artist and researcher Katrin
Hornek (Site-Specific Art, University of Applied Arts Vienna) and choreographer and performer Karin Pauer
explore the complexities of the Atomic Age, tracing its cultural and political legacies alongside its contemporary dynamics.
The performance was developed specifically for the Belvedere 21—a building of historical significance
initially conceived as the Austrian Pavilion for Expo 1958 in Brussels. A key theme of this first post–World War II World’s
Fair was the “peaceful use of nuclear power,” manifested not only in the exhibits of numerous national pavilions but also
in the radical proposal to power the fair itself with an on-site nuclear reactor. Its cooling water was intended to irrigate
the gardens of the so-called colonial section.
JANUS juxtaposes the era’s exuberant optimism toward nuclear
energy with the discovery of radionuclides in Vienna—remnants of atmospheric atomic bomb tests conducted during the same period.
Belvedere 21 thus transforms into a living narrator, where polyphonic, embodied knowledge intersects with geological traces
and geopolitical nuclear narratives.
In this performance, celebratory, energetic, resistant, dissolving, and reassembling
bodies intertwine in a condensed, multi-sensory exploration of what it means to live in the nuclear Anthropocene. Hornek and
Pauer create an immersive, physically experiential space for collective reflection on the traces of atomic science in bodies,
plants, soils, and waterways. Through movement, sound, and collected voices, they negotiate the unprecedented alliance between
technology, the military, and science—from the first atomic tests to the nuclear industry’s renaissance unfolding today.
Curator: Christiane Erharter
JANUS is part of an interdisciplinary research project that builds
on Katrin Hornek’s earlier project The Anthropocene Surge (2019–24, in collaboration with Michael Wagreich) and the
exhibition testing grounds (at the Secession, March 8 – June 2, 2024, in collaboration with Karin Pauer, Sabina Holzer,
and Zosia Hołubowska). The aim is to bring scientific knowledge into the public sphere and to foster interdisciplinary dialogue.
As part of JANUS, the artists have engaged in collaborative research encounters with invited experts from various
disciplines, in an effort to transcend academic boundaries and create an “embodied archive” that serves as the foundation
of the performance.
28. May 5 pm - 7 pm
Exploratory tour: VERA (Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator)
During this tour of the VERA laboratories at the University of Vienna, physicist and environmental researcher Karin Hain
will introduce the particle accelerator and its application in highly sensitive trace analysis.
20. June 6:30 pm
- 9 pm
JANUS – Performance by Katrin Hornek and Karin Pauer
21. June 3 pm - 6 pm
JANUS – Performance
and Artist Talk 
