Carola Dertnig. donauspuren digital wideness and other things

In her works (installations, videos, and performances), Carola Dertnig is interested in artistic processes—in terms of historiography, genres, and perspectives. The artist develops structures for missing histories and invents people or entire settings intervening in the past.

This catalogue documents performances and objects in the exhibition Danube Traces at the State Gallery of Lower Austria (Oct. 19, 2019–May 24, 2020), in which archeological excavations conducted during the construction of the new State Gallery building play a crucial role. Medieval and Roman finds and generational transitions permeate each other to make viewers think: What does the past’s infiltration of the present mean—is it enough of an impulse to grasp the present as an implementation of the past? How clear-cut are historical shifts? What consequences do constructions have on living spaces and scopes of action, how do they change paths and routes, what is the relationship between city and countryside? Hopping from one generation and place, one memory and experience to the next, Dertnig interrelates such histories, making them visible from many angles.