Summer Symposium 2025 > Exhibitions
COLOURFUL ELEMENTS. Textile art by Arezou Shayesteh Sadafian
The exhibition ‘colourful elements’ shows a deliberate selection of works by Arezou Shayesteh Sadafian, an artist who was born in Tehran in 1975 and has been living in Austria for several years. Her artistic practice stems from her enthusiasm for colour, her interest in abstract forms and her focus on the materiality of textiles. She explores the aesthetics of textile surfaces and investigates how their properties and textures constantly give rise to new design potential, far removed from traditional textile uses.
The artist creates colourful thread pictures whose basic concepts germinate intuitively, but which then take on a life of their own in accordance with their materiality and properties through principles that sometimes seem almost mathematical, resulting in concepts of abstraction, order and visual aesthetics. She opens up a different level of perception of the textile by using the thread as a painterly element and at the same time exploring its nature. Her analytical approach to the laws of colour and recurring rhythms and her interest in the underlying mathematical principles is probably also due to her initial studies as a physicist.
Arezou Shayesteh Sadafian is currently a Master's student at the University of Art and Design Linz and will take her Master's examination in the ‘textil.kunst.design’ course on 15 May as part of an exhibition in Haslach. Following the examination, there will be a preview of the exhibition for all interested parties as part of the International Museum Day programme.
Between mid-May and mid-July, the exhibition in Haslach will continue to grow and be supplemented with other works by the artist. From the opening of the Haslach Textile Culture Summer Symposium on 13 July 2025, the ‘colourful elements’ will then be open to all textile enthusiasts in their entirety until mid-October 2025. Arezou Shayesteh Sadafian will be available for an artist talk in the exhibition one evening per week during the three summer course weeks.
Location: Special exhibition room of the Textile Centre Haslach
Duration: Sun, 13 July 2025 - mid-October 2025
Opening hours: Tue - Sun, 10 am - 4 pm
Preview: Thu, 15 May, 5 pm
Opening: Sun, 13 July, 7 pm
Artist talks: Mon, 14, 21 & 28 July, each at 7 pm
In abundance. Highlights from Gery Keszler's Life Ball collection
Every year for 26 years, Gery Keszler transformed Vienna City Hall into a place of joie de vivre, openness and solidarity. From 1993 to 2019, he initiated and organised the world-famous LIFE BALL - one of the largest charity events in Europe, a benefit for people infected with HIV and AIDS and a dazzling major event for a diverse society.
Flashy, extravagant, elegant, provocative, glamorous, nostalgic, futuristic, amusing and much more - the Life Ball themes were as varied as the numerous costumes that have accumulated in Gery Keszler's collection over the years. They tell of unforgettable performances and celebrities who have worn them. But they are also a treasure trove of unusual materials, opulent colours and sophisticated manufacturing methods. The textile view of the costumes reveals the world behind the covers and shows a wealth of complex techniques and rich textile culture - an approach that has become increasingly important for Gery Keszler since he has also been involved in weaving himself. He has now channelled his hundreds of costumes into a new project close to his heart: LIFE COSTUMES - a public costume collection with a studio, a space for creative development and social engagement in Vienna's Ottakring district (https://life-costumes.org).
As part of the Textile Culture Haslach 2025 summer symposium, treasures from this rich treasure trove will be presented for the first time in an exhibition in the Haslach church tower. On the eight floors of the massive former fortified tower, visitors can admire selected highlights from the textile heritage of the Life Ball up close, immerse themselves in a colourful world and carry the spirit of the Life Ball beyond the fortified walls to the outside world.
Location: Haslach church tower
Duration: Mon, 14 July - Sun, 10 August 2025
Opening: Sun, 13 July, 7 pm
Urban fabric. Collages by Delphine Léger
During the summer symposium, works by the artist Delphine Léger will be on display in the Galerie im Gwölb on Haslach's market square. After studying textile design in Paris, the artist initially worked as an actress, musician and stage designer in France, Belgium and Morocco. She has now lived in Vienna since 2006, where she devotes herself to applied and freelance art. She paints, wallpapers, designs objects, works primarily with patterns and colours and specialises in paper objects and collages, in which she often explores the diversity of urban spaces and facades.
In the exhibition in Haslach, she will be showing both collages and textile works and will provide an insight into her working methods during an artist talk.
More information: https://www.delphineleger.at/
Location: Galerie im Gwölb
Duration: Mon, 14 July - Sun, 10 August 2025
Opening: Sun, 13 July, 7 pm
Artist talk: Tue, 15 July, 7 pm
Four in a space. Klang- und Fadeninstallation von Germaine Sijstermans
The Dutch composer, installation artist and clarinettist Germaine Sijstermans creates site-specific works in which composition and installation come together. She explores the experience of a place for both musicians and visitors through sound, silence, light and space. In her music, abstract sound materials unfold and develop organically in an interplay of intention and chance. She composes minimalist music for specific spaces, which she additionally equips with a thread installation so that a visit to the space becomes a special sound and visual experience.
As part of the ‘Four in a space’ project, Germaine will create a new work for Haslach, which can be viewed over a longer period of time in the Hainberger Durchhaus at the lower end of the market square. The site-specific composition will be recorded in the space. In addition to two live acoustic performances with four musicians, the recording will be heard continuously via four loudspeakers in the installation during the opening hours of the exhibition, so that visitors can come back several times and experience the space and sound in new and different ways.
Germaine Sijsterman's multidisciplinary works offer visitors space and time to explore their own subjective perception and experience in different states. For example, we perceive things differently in daylight than at dusk. Perhaps you sit in one place for a while, while at another time you explore the space and the sounds as you walk around. The possibility of attending live performances offers an extra dimension in which a work is experienced differently in the physical presence of musicians and other visitors.
Germaine Sijstermans draws inspiration from various sources, such as traditional forms of music, nature, light and space art, Butoh dance and traditional forms of architecture. She regularly works with Marcus Kaiser, Leo Svirsky, the DNK-Ensemble Amsterdam, Heim.art®, Rishin Singh, Fredrik Rasten and artists who are part of the Wandelweiser network, among others.
Germaine Sijstermans will realise a special project in collaboration with the Textile Centre Haslach. The most important recurring material in her installations is thread, which forms a strong link to the location and will play an essential role in the artistic work. In preparation for the project, Germaine will visit the installation site several times to develop the site-specific work. After the physical presence of the project in Haslach, the recording will remain accessible as an EP and/or possibly as a CD.
More info: https://www.germainesijstermans.com/
Details to follow.
