Daniel Hafner’s artistic practice, long characterized by the use of diverse mediums, increasingly focuses on the potential of artistic action. The installation “Modern People” is intrinsically linked to a performance of the same name, which Hafner has staged with fellow artists at various locations. Their filmic recordings form a fundamental component of this spatial composition.
The concept is directed towards exploring public spaces: Their landscapes and objects – both techno-industrial and botanical – provide an impetus to engage with encountered realities and come to terms with them. In doing so, the performers follow instructions inscribed as symbols on stones and leaves. The resulting (inter)actions represent delicate, quiet, and mindful examinations and redefinitions of our surroundings.
They often recall mundane, routine actions guided by the world of objects.
Sigmund Freud Museum
Vienna IX, Berggasse 19. This is the address where Sigmund Freud lived and worked for 47 years until he was forced to flee from the Nazi regime in 1938. In 1971 , the Sigmund Freud Museum was founded here, and after extensive renovation and expansion reopened in 2020. Three permanent exhibitions in Freud’s former living and office rooms, an art presentation in the Showroom Berggasse 19 as well as special exhibitions present Freud’s multi-layered cultural legacy: they are dedicated to his life and work, the development of psychoanalysis in theory and practice, and its importance for the fields of society, science, and art. The history of the house at Berggasse 19 and the fates of its occupants are also brought into focus.
Daniel Hafner: Modern People, 2021/2025
12 Jun 2025 - 31 Oct 2025
Berggasse 19, Wien, Österreich
Credit: Daniel Hafner, Modern People Vienna, 2021, Photo: Reinhold Zisser
