Antonia Rippel-Stefanska. Einer glänzt weniger

Changes in the economic and political sphere have an impact on our emotions and penetrate personal and professional relationships. Given our growing individual independence and the isolation caused by COVID-19, mutual attachment and social connections arise as a new opportunity. In a world in which humans are focused on personal growth and consumption, climate care and curbing the pandemic constitute a collective task. “Our mutual reliance on a common cause gives us a sense of security in times of digital information overload. Now, there is an object we can focus on. Finally, we have to act and we have to do so collectively,” the artist states. 

 

In Einer glänzt weniger [One Shines Less], Antonia Rippel-Stefanska investigates how individuals act in the context of the big picture. Which new rules can be set up to reach a common goal? Can we as individuals create something big together? Which path do I choose? How do I position myself towards people with different experiences, options, and a different actuality of life? How does my position change with time and with regard to newly gained information? What happens when we postulate limitations as a necessity for further development?

 

In the spacious multimedia installation, 3D animation loops and scenic film sequences, created in collaboration with Konstantin Thiesen and Julia Várkonyi, enter into a dialogue as “playing fields” with sculptures made of concrete, marble gravel, pigment, and wax—the “pawns.” In a kind of family constellation, the artist translates the challenges of our current life onto the structures and dynamics of a family from which societies and personalities emerge. 

 

„To me, our actuality of life consists of cycles repeating on a social, individual, and personal level. Nonetheless, these cycles are also connected with joy and have a playful touch,” the artist states. In her animations, she sees an interplay between autonomy and connection, a conflict of loyalties, tension, letting go, but also a close observation of how processes develop. The slowness of the animation videos calls for the observer to focus and look closely, to endure—or also decide to turn away. 

 

Antonia Rippel-Stefanska completed her graduate degree in “Fine Arts: Sculpture and Space,” headed by Prof. Hans Schabus, in 2018. In her artistic practice, the artist, who also studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, addresses broad sculptural questions, volume and space, appropriation and autonomy. 

 

With the exhibition cooperation CREATIVE CLIMATE CARE, the MAK and the University of Applied Arts Vienna are giving five graduates of the University of Applied Arts selected by a jury the opportunity of each exhibiting in the CREATIVE CLIMATE CARE GALLERY for three weeks. The series addresses the contribution of design, architecture, and art towards the development of a new mindset for active climate care.

 

The series of pop-up exhibitions in the context of CREATIVE CLIMATE CARE has, so far, presented works by Florian Semlitsch, Sophie Gogl, Chien-hua Huang, and Martina Menegon. The final contribution is this exhibition by Antonia Rippel-Stefanska.

 

Press photos are available for download at MAK.at/en/press