August 26th until September 30th, 2023

My favorite Disaster

It sat in the middle of the room for a long time. The Thing is nice, I thought, the Thing is nearly perfect, if one can say that about a thing. I circled the Thing, keeping my distance, like a curious dog. I talked to the Thing from time to time, in careful whispers, soothingly, to get it on my side. I wanted to find out what it needed, what it wanted.

So I have to admit I did get distracted after a while, maybe I got carried away talking to myself, who knows, only the Thing and I were there to witness what happened.
Anyway I must have caught my big toe in the Thing, or maybe I bumped into the Thing with my elbow, maybe I dropped the Thing or I hadn’t switched it off properly the night before. Or maybe when I had got the Thing, it hadn’t been completely new, maybe there had been a little crack already, a dent, a little scratch, a change of its original condition I hadn’t even noticed.

I was shocked by how loud the crash was, or was it a boom and a sputter?
The slip, the glitch, the disaster, the oopsie-doopsie, whatever you want to call it, only lasted for a split second, and the split second felt like it lasted forever.
I was surprised by the Thing itself, still sitting there, somewhat changed.
Curiously, it didn’t appear broken to me, it appeared to me somehow content, satisfied with its new state. I swear, when I turned round, Out of the corner of my eye,

I caught a glimpse of the Thing grinning. Can a thing even grin?

Aaron Amar Bhamra (*1992, Vienna) lives and works in Vienna.
He recently exhibited at Systema, Marseille; Galerie Krinzinger Schottenfeldgasse, Vienna; University of Applied Arts, Vienna; Galerie Le Carceri, Bolzano; Dinner Show 1.0, Vienna. He studied at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Architecture at the Technical University Vienna and Indian classical music in Nagpur.
He runs the independent space LAURENZ in Vienna with Monika Georgieva since 2020.

Billie Clarken (*1992, Fairfax, Virginia) lives and works in Berlin.
She recently exhibited at Galerie Johann Widauer, Innsbruck; DOCK20 Kunstraum und Sammlung, Lustenau; JVDW, Düsseldorf; Number 1 Main Road, Berlin; Grove Berlin, Berlin
She graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA and studied at UdK, Berlin.

Alwin Lay (*1984, Lugoj, Romania) lives and works in Cologne.
He recently exhibited at Museum für Photographie Braunschweig, Kunstverein Siegen, Le Bureau, Düsseldorf; Kunstmuseum Bonn; Kunsthalle Düsseldorf.
He studied at KHM Köln and Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

Lazar Lyutakov (*1977, Shabla, Bulgaria) lives and works in Vienna.
He recently exhibited at Secession, Vienna; SIMIAN Copenhagen; Charim Galerie, Vienna; CCA Tbilisi; the 58th Venice Biennale, Venice.
He studied at the National Art Academy in Sofia and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.