The New York artist Nancy Spero produced the exhibition series "Woman/War Victimage/Resistance" consisting of six works. The exhibition took place between October 1994 and March 1995 in the form of six full-page monthly inserts in the daily newspaper, DER STANDARD.
Nancy Spero created six different versions of a photo which was found in possession of a member of the Gestapo at the end of the Second World War; it shows a naked woman who is tied up. It is noticeable that the artist varies the subject to such an extent that various details are focused upon and partly "zoomed in on". In the fourth work, the victim is shown in close up without a face, only the breasts with the rope cutting into them can be seen. The violent, pornographic expression of the perpetrator is contrasted with the naked helplessness of the doomed victim.
Nancy Spero's courageous work deals critically with the way in which Austria has insufficiently examined and come to terms with its National Socialist past; not only the violence done to women, the perpetrator and victim roles become the artistic themes – and that in an Austrian print medium.
The exhibition was realised in co-operation with the daily newspaper, DER STANDARD, and curator Stella Rollig (Ministry of Science, Research and Art).
Documentation: Folder.
