dream.lab | Rivane Neuenschwander

13 Sep 2024 — 23 Feb 2025
Promotional graphic for Rivane Neuenschwander's 'dream.lab' exhibition. The image is divided into four color blocks: lavender, light yellow, light green, and light blue. The top left section features the text 'Rivane Neuenschwander dream.lab' in bold black font. Below, it states the exhibition dates'13.9.2024–23.2.2025'.In the bottom left corner, there`s a logo and text for Kinder Kunst Labor. On the right half, there is an abstract black silhouette resembling an organic structure with a rounded base and sp
Manuel Radde

Rivane Neuenschwander
dream.lab
September 13, 2024–February 3, 2025 
KinderKunstLabor for contemporary art

 

Following the grand opening of the venue at end of June and a summer programme in July, the moment has finally arrived: the KinderKunstLabor is celebrating the opening of its first exhibition, dream.lab, by Brazilian artist Rivane Neuenschwander.

Neuenschwander is one of the most internationally renowned Brazilian artists of her generation. In her exhibition dream.lab, a new project, she takes an installation-based and experimental approach to addressing the theme of dreams and dreaming. 

As part of her preparatory work for the exhibition, Neuenschwander was in contact with children from St. Pölten, Children’s Advisory Board, and the Kunstideenwerkstatt (art ideas workshop) since 2023. In her sculptures, installations, and films, as well as in her drawings and textile works, the artist works with materials such as soap, chalk, eggshells, foam, fruit, sand, shells, powder, pigments, and water, which reference the transitoriness of experience and the elusive boundary between presence and absence, permanence and impermanence.

In the dream.lab exhibition, Rivane Neuenschwander utilizes the 400-square-meter exhibition space and its configuration of three walls and a central support column to create an artistic landscape that enables visitors to interact with the space in various ways. Wooden frames stretched with children’s bedsheets and painted with elements of their drawings serve as the central design features. These frames are distributed around the space. They structure the space while also functioning as projection surfaces. In addition, soap bubbles continuously float through the space. The bedsheets symbolize the presence of the children; the notion of a patchwork highlights the importance of the collective. Children can actively participate in and engage with the exhibition. In its playful presentation of complex experiences, the exhibition supports the development of new skills for accessing the complexity and cultural diversity of childhood.