Opening LichtStrauss

The transition from the 19th to the 20th century marks a decisive step towards equality in the struggle for women’s rights, as women had been largely excluded from the (political) public sphere up until the turn of the century. Their fight for education, fair working conditions, and political participation culminated in March 1911 with the largest women’s demonstration in Austria, involving around 20,000 participants. Taking to the streets became a successful strategy for gaining public visibility and making their voices heard. With the advent of Augmented Reality, a new public and creative space for socio-political issues has emerged. At the opening of LichtStrauss at the Gartenbaukino, seven films will premiere. These shorts introduce seven contemporary female performers and their virtual “personas,” who exist in the digital world at the intersection of past and future, the visible and the invisible, darkness and light. These cinematic works form a visually metaphorical bridge between women’s historical struggles and the challenges they face today in the pursuit of equality. The collective “taking to the streets“ – walking out of the cinema, through the light art in the Stadtpark, to the opening performance on both banks of the Wienfluss – becomes a collective statement against this historical and current background, a statement that powerfully seeks to gain visibility and a voice – for the appropriation of space, self-empowerment and equality.