Eröffnung Lumen X: 'Learning Systems Unlearned - Kreative Subversion in der Fotografie' | Vienna Art Week 2026

EVENT LANGUAGE: GERMAN/ENGLISH

A project by LumenX – offenes Fotolabor.

The exhibition project “Learning Systems Unlearned” explores how artistic learning can be reimagined through conscious unlearning and the radical reduction of technical means. At its core is the concept of “unlearning”: Unlike passive forgetting, unlearning is an active, intentional process. Artists question and break away from ingrained routines to enable new forms of expression and innovative approaches.

The exhibition draws on Vilém Flusser’s philosophy of photography. Flusser views photography as a system with its own rules, setting not only technical but also social and cultural boundaries. His central thesis-“freedom means playing against the apparatus”-serves as a guiding principle: artistic innovation arises when the given possibilities of the apparatus are creatively subverted and new paths are explored beyond routine.

This approach is implemented concretely by radically reducing the equipment of a photo lab. Instead of relying on a multitude of specialized machines and devices, participating artists focus on minimal means. This conscious limitation makes the structures and boundaries of the photographic system visible and opens up space for creative subversion. The artists use this simplification to question the logic of the apparatus, break routines, and explore new visual worlds through experimental techniques.

The project understands reduction as a catalyst: by simplifying technical and methodological systems, their limitations become apparent and can be overcome. Especially in a time dominated by digital photography and automated processes, the return to analog, reduced methods gains special relevance. The exhibition demonstrates how conscious reduction and the active unlearning of established methods give rise to new artistic forms of expression.

“Learning Systems Unlearned” invites us to question existing knowledge systems and automatisms and to discover new artistic freedoms through creative subversion. The project sees unlearning not as a loss, but as a gain: as a prerequisite for innovation, artistic autonomy, and social reflection.

Exhibiting artists:

Boris Jawecki, Werner Chromecek, Heinrich Mathes, Kerstin Pfleger, Harald Mairböck.

Meeting point: WSB Studio at WUK Werkstätten- und Kulturhaus (Workshops and Cultural Center)

The exhibition is open on Sunday, November 9, and Monday, November 10, from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

ART SPACE

Währinger Straße 59, 1090 Wien

+43 1 401 21 0

info@wuk.at

Das WUK

WUK is an acronym and stands for “Werkstätten- und Kulturhaus”, roughly meaning “House for Workshops and Culture”. The building islaid out on 12,000 square metres and includes a stage, a concert hall, an exhibition hall and photo gallery, workshops and studios, work spaces for socio-political groups, a place for education and counselling, a senior citizens’ centre and school, rehearsal studios for music and dance, an intercultural centre, work stations and a party space.

The WUK is a place for study, for trying and doing things, for participation and sharing. The WUK creates leeway for creativity. It is a laboratory and a place of practice in one.