HUMAN ATTEMPTS
The group exhibition HUMAN ATTEMPTS - of Curators’ Agenda: VIENNA 2026 - stems from the need to explore the intuitive human action that stubbornly confronts the complexity of reality.
With students and alumni from the Academy Adina Camhy, Natalia del Mar Kašik & Antonia de la Luz Kašik, Liva Hage, Sophia Leitenmayer, Gwiyeon Han, Rubén Ezequiel Löwy, and Daphne von Schrader.
Curated by Sooyeon An, Ilaria Cera, Sharrat Cherry, Sofía Enríquez González, Jess Łukawska, and Temitayo Olalekan
Mentorship, Supervision and Curatorial Direction: Anamarija Batista, Institue for Art Theory and Cultural Studies
Project Coordination: Elena Blum
Dogmatic categories and the distractions of contemporary life form a restrictive, near-suffocating framework. Against it, resilience and a shared fighting spirit propel us forward and, at times, push us beyond these constraints. Some attempts succeed, many falter, and most are left unfinished. The exhibition opens up a room for encounter, while highlighting the dynamics of these conditions.
HUMAN ATTEMPTS brings together eight artists whose work spans performance, installation, sculpture, and video. They gather around the questions: How do you keep trying when the ground keeps shifting? What do you hold on to? The artistic approaches react to these questions through irony, criticism, and a re-examination of the body’s boundaries. Improvisation, trial and error thus emerge as the tools through which human instinct constantly drives us forward.
IN(TER)DEPENDENCE*, the overreaching program topic of DAS WEISSE HAUS in 2026, is explored through reflections on humanity’s stubborn, perpetual, and combative survival. The exhibition encourages us to break out from automated ways of living and to enter a space of attention and shared risk. HUMAN ATTEMPTS is based on lived practice and mutual dependence – a method which is itself a series of ongoing attempts.
This exhibition presents the finalization of the intensive Curators' Agenda: VIENNA 2026 residency program. It is realized in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and under the supervision of curator and researcher Anamarija Batista. Launched in 2015 by the Vienna-based association BLOCKFREI, Curators' Agenda is an annual residency that offers international curators the opportunity to expand their curatorial knowledge and immerse themselves in the Viennese art scene over six to eight weeks. In January 2024, BLOCKFREI Collective (Nevena Janković, Eva Kovač, and Jana Dolečki) took over the direction of DAS WEISSE HAUS, integrating this residency project under its umbrella.
