Cliché hooray

"... aus einem malerischen Land" ("... from a picturesque country") is the title of the new HangART-7-Edition, which showcases young artists from Switzerland and which plays on idyll and ideal, kitsch and cliché.

Lush green, karstic peaks and perpetual snow, bright white, dirty grey, covering fields and below streetlights: "... aus einem malerischen Land", the latest exhibition to be staged at Hangar-7 in Salzburg, lays on the Swiss clichés with a trowel. Several of the participating artists have teased new and unexpected facets from the conflict between reality and idyll: such as Monika Ruckstuhl, whose rambling landscapes reveal unexpected details on closer inspection. Or Karin Schwarzbek, whose paintings focus on the relationship between landscapes and people - whereby the latter is frequently reduced to individual body parts when the viewer "zooms in".

Eight female, two male artists

However, Ruckstuhl and Schwarzbek are just two representatives of a new generation of Swiss artists to be showcased at the ninth exhibition at Hangar-7 in Salzburg, Austria. At "Edition 9" curator Lioba Reddeker is exhibiting the works of a further six female and two male artists: Klodin Erb, Lena Eriksson, Anaïs Gumy, Thomas Hauri, indra., Georgine Ingold, Andrea Muheim and Olaf Quantius.

Cultural counterattack

"We're presenting the latest wave of young Swiss artists," says Reddeker. "The spectrum of paintings is more than remarkable and extremely wide. Which is why this time we're exhibiting a greater number of female artists compared with past events." Another reason for bringing Swiss art to Austria was to provide a cultural counterbalance to the Euro 2008 Football Championship, which as we know is being hosted jointly by Austria and Switzerland.

Opens February 23

At "... aus einem malerischen Land" visitors will see the participating artists analyse and vary the longstanding techniques of painting and drawing, both thematically and formally, as well as Lena Eriksson's journal-like sketches and indra's ornamental abstracts. "HangART-7 Edition 9" will be open daily from 9am to 10pm between February 23 and April 11. Admission to the exhibition at Hangar-7 at Salzburg airport is free of charge.