Nana Mandl & Karl Karner

Exhibition Nana Mandl and Karl Karner| Fear of Missing out | KS Room Styria

Last week we went back home, the back home from my childhood, the southern Styria.  I hadn’t been there for a while and I was looking forward to doing all kinds of fun and adventurous stuff. 

One thing I had planned was to go and see the exhibition called <ix-explosion>Fear of the Missing out<ix-explosion> in the KS Show Room near a town called Riegersburg presenting Nana Mandl and Karl Karner, both Austrian artists I truly admire and respect. 

I packed my sister, my son and his younger cousin into the car to offer them a bit of culture in my childhood home and ignoring my brother in laws warning that I would have trouble finding the place we set out and got lost. 

We drove by the space so entranced by our surrounding that even the lettering over the space in large white letters was overlooked, until my son ever the observer called out that we had just passed it again, once more almost overlooked. 

<span id="test" class="kool-class" style="color: blue;" fs-test-element="test">The exhibition takes place in an old barn and inside it was a jaw dropping backdrop for the incredible art show on view. .</span>

We were literally the only ones there. 

The place was open, and yet no one was there, it was all completely unprotected and it was a very different kind of experience I can assure you.

What an unusual environment this was for contemporary art in the middle of corn fields, horses gathering under a tree for shade, pure idilic.

I had thought about contacting Karl Karner via Instagram, tell him I was going  to see the show, mostly because I thought I had caught a glimpse of him riding by on a bicycle just the day before.

We had promised the kids we would visit the Austrian Chocolate temple Zotter after the exhibition, and having noticed the castle nearby, they could not get it out of their heads and their bickering and insistence to hurry up forced me to take everything in in a rush. 

Like a typical tourist, I took my phones camera and took pictures of everything to contemplate later when alone at home

The exhibition is on view till the 27th of July, so if you want to head to the South of Styria and visit the Volcano region, eat delicious chocolate, see a castle and take in some culture I can highly recommend it!

What is the KS Room ( Styria)?

The KS Room is a project space in Kornberg near Riegersburg in Styria. On 180m2 near the Kornberg Castle in Southeast Styria, the art space KS Room allows those interested in art to participate in interdisciplinary processes through regular exhibitions.

Founded in 2013 by Karl Karner and Linda Samaraweerová, the space explores experimental visual and performing arts, presenting fresh, dynamic positions between performance, painting, photography and sculpture.

Nana Mandl on Instagram

Karl Karner on Instagram

About the author

Ernst Koslitsch is an artist who when not busy with his art assists me with my projects. He is by my side on every adventure and together we share this journey, each in our own way.

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Further Reading:

Beings and Creatures | Between the found and the constructed a must see group show at Rotor Graz | Center of Contemporary Arts

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