I am not a Man, I am Dynamite
Nikola Hansalik
September 10th – September 24th, 2015

[They stand together in an undefined space. Someone arrives.]
Actor 1: Hello it’s me! ART!
[They tremble.]
Actor 1: Is this trembling really necessary?
Chorus: Yes! Yes! Yes!

Project: ARTspace introduces I am not a Man, I am Dynamite by Nikola Hansalik. For this exhibition, Hansalik presents a series of eight wearable sculptures, which also function as masks made of fabric specially treated by the artist. These sculptures turn potentially into different characters of a play or a performance yet to be written.

In another series presented as photographs, a protagonist wears skin-colored leather sculptures resembling body-parts. Via the veiling of the masks, the subject is left in blindness, trapped, becoming physically united as a form. Each mask’s design derives from architectural floor-plans of museums such as the Tate Modern, MoMA and the Centre Pompidou. Through the spatial transformation of architectural layouts into object based masks, the artist steps into such iconic spaces exploring exploring both the way they are used and thoughts on art itself.

Nikola Hansalik lives and works in Vienna, Austria. This is her second time showing with Project: ARTspace and her first solo show in the space. The work in I am not a Man I am Dynamite was made during her Austrian Federal Ministry of Art and Culture residency in New York City. Hansalik’s solo exhibitions include NY Fortune of Things I Will Do,at HQ, NYC (2008), Open Source Gallery, NYC (2008), I Want Them to Buy My Art, Do I… Austrian Cultural Forum, London (2007) Principal of Irretrievable Breakdown – Arothek Gallery, Vienna (2006). Hansalik also has been part of numerous group shows and has won several awards.