The Petrified River
Overview
Presented at Galerie Lukas Feichtner as part of curated_by Vienna, The Petrified River explored the paradox between historical realities and their lingering memories. Co-curated with Martha Kirszenbaum, the exhibition brought together six international artists whose practices interrogate and redirect traditional concepts of monumentality—shifting focus from heroic grandiosity to domestic scales, tactility, and the fluid relationships between objects, space, and time.
Project Context & Curatorial Role
Alongside Martha Kirszenbaum, I led the conceptual framing, artist selections, and exhibition design, situating contemporary sculptural and filmic practices within critical theories of memory, entropy, and public monumentality.
Drawing on French historian Pierre Nora’s concept of lieux de mémoire (sites of memory), the exhibition examined how monuments function across the sacred and profane, the collective and the individual. As a pluralistic world moves further from fixed historical narratives, the six featured artists created political and social détournements—offering alternative, human-scale monuments for a fragmented present.
Influenced by Robert Smithson’s 1966 theory of entropy, the works in The Petrified River were conceived not for the ages, but "against the ages"—constructed from artificial materials, deconstructed iconography, and falsely constructed histories that reflect collective notions of both struggle and triumph.
Participating Artists
Aleksandra Domanović: Sculptures, videos, and photographs exploring cultural artifacts, public monuments, and post-Communist national identity in the digital age.
Iman Issa: Private, human-scale installations from her Material series proposing alternative physical forms for nonexistent or failed public monuments.
Shahryar Nashat: Films and installations questioning the function of the pedestal while probing the relationship between museological display, performativity, and power.
Timothy Hull: Drawings investigating Classical architectural and sculptural iconography, subverting their authority through intentional flatness and accessible mediums.
Ruby Sky Stiler: Deconstructed sculptures referencing historical forms that shift perspectives to feel simultaneously ancient and thoroughly contemporary.
Paolo Chiasera: Archives and site-specific projects putting collective memory, mythology, and historical icons into fresh perspective.
Role: Co-curator, with Martha Kirszenbaum
Date: September 20—October 25, 2012
Location: Galerie Lukas Feichtner, Vienna, Austria (part of curated_by Vienna)
Artists: Paolo Chiasera, Aleksandra Domanović, Timothy Hull, Iman Issa, Shahryar Nashat, Ruby Sky Stiler
