Christian Eisenberger’s art work and performances often smack of insouciance, but, like a child and even more like an artist, his desire to engage is very real.

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When a tree falls down in the forest and noone witnesses it, did it really happen? When an artist makes a sculpture on top of a mountain and noone sees it, is it really art? more »

Intensity can be fascinating. However, levity also holds a certain charm. The artist’s name, ILA — which stands for the sentence in German: einen “Immens Langen Atem haben” (literally, “to be long of breath”, i.e. “to have stamina or willpower”) — expresses the difficulties of an artist’s existence: facing setbacks, keeping up endurance, rolling with the punches. The business of art often seems like hard work, however, the work process and artistic expression of art is more like play. He wishes for his works to appear like they happen effortlessly, minus burdening concepts like “genius” or artistic self-sacrifice. His work, he says, is inspired by the idea of giving something. They should be considered as invitations to stick around, to wake one up but not to win one over. The viewer then must choose his or her own way through the works, unguided by the preconceptions of others.

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After getting a degree in geology, ILA turned his attentions towards art. His preoccupation with natural science can still be found in his work. Exhibition titles such as “All in All” are reminiscent of the systematic paradigm of nature. In his work, “Earth Plugs” — which was honored with First Prize at the International Biennale for Miniatures in Belgrade — he drilled holes into pavement curbs, house facades, and boulders using a diamond drill bit, thereby inoculating the socio-geological ground of these public spaces and found locations as a kind of artistic intervention. more »

Lastplak, a Netherlands word for the last “gang” and the ultimate pest, call themselves the Graffiti Collective and hail from the Dutch port city, Rotterdam. Lastplak, internationally reknown in the graffiti scene, consists of a group of ten young artists. They work in the collective individually and in interchanging constellations. They are united by their love of the work, their openness with one another, and the freedom to regard art as their common project. On the occasion of their exhibition in the Galerie Inoperable in Vienna, we welcomed Lastplak with a grey shutter in front of a shop, twenty spray-paint cans, and just as many cans of Ottakringer beer. The results of that combination can be seen on this CastYourArt podcast, accompanied by music contributed by the Dutch rapper, DuvelDuvel. (wh/jn)

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