As part of Vienna Art Week “Navigating Angst,” we warmly invite you to the opening and exhibition of Linda Christanell. The Gifts of the Goddess.

As one of the pioneers of the feminist avant-garde of the 1970s, Christanell worked under conditions of structural exclusion, limited access to resources, and ongoing economic pressure that particularly marginalized female positions within experimental film. Her work is considered one of the important artistic positions of its time.

Christanell employed film, photography, performance, and installation to critically reflect on social norms, gender roles, and power structures. Through poetic, often subtle imagery, she questioned the visibility and self-determination of women. Her artistic practice combines personal experience with political conviction and continues to shape contemporary discourse surrounding the body, identity, and female perspectives.

This retrospective presents, for the first time, Christanell’s complete early body of work, extending through to her films. Previously largely unknown film material has been restored and will be presented in cooperation with the Austrian Film Museum. In addition, the exhibition features contemporary feminist positions that build upon Christanell’s artistic approaches.

The juxtaposition with works by younger feminist artists reveals the enduring relevance of her oeuvre, while also pointing to the continuity of feminist concerns and their evolution under present-day conditions. Questions of visibility, power, female autonomy, as well as the body and the image, are more urgent today than ever before.

Doors open at 6:30 PM

https://www.kuenstlerhaus.at/