FRANZI KREIS
Artist. Storyteller. Photographer.
Franzi Kreis is a Vienna based artist working with the medium photography, audio and film. Her exhibitions, “Finding Motherland” and “Father Earth” (2019-2021), have been drawing attention from Vienna to Rome. Women tell about the lives of their mothers, men about the lives of their fathers. The exhibition consists of photographs and headphones, through which one dives into the depths of a life story within seconds. Franzi Kreis is showing her narrative, artistic production in numerous presentations since 2015. Projects for i.a. Wiener Festwochen performing arts festival, Brut, Landestheater Niederösterreich and Volkstheater Vienna complete her work. Her first coffee table book „Limelight“ has been published in 2020. Currently she is performing live on stage at the dark-room, Dunkelkammer, in Volkstheater Wien in „Die Scham“, Shame, by Annie Ernaux. Works created during the performances of „Shame“ are presented in Lukas Feichtner Gallery.
Franzi Kreis / © Lukas Beck
“What do you know about your mother’s childhood? What about your father’s childhood? It is incredibly moving how social and political issues of our time are reflected in private biographies, and how recounted lifelines contain answers on the big questions of humanity.”
Generation Beta / © Karin Gruber
Generation Beta / © Franzi Kreis
Project: Generation Beta
„What do you know about your mother’s childhood? What about your father’s childhood?“ Generation Beta is a collection of perspectives. The exhibition consists of photographs and headphones, through which one dives into the depths of a life story within seconds.
A glance into the future within a detour through the past. The vision is an ongoing archive, in which people age seven to ninety-seven tell the life stories of their ancestors. Daughters talk about their mothers, sons about their fathers — collective memories. The conversations lead to the creation of a photographic portrait, addressing transmitted body language, inherited gestures and visible memories. The starting point is Vienna, a city between East and West and a city of many cultures; a place where significantly diverse perspectives of history collide. Generation Beta refers to the generation that is about to be born. Individual destinies are embedded in a context of complex world history. The project aims to give answers to the big questions: How do we break the transgenerational cycle of passing on behavior? Where are the gaps, that give us space to act freely, in order to overcome transgenerational trauma? The reproduction of suffering is easy — but how do we find a positive, empowering attitude towards our (immaterial) inheritance? How do forwarded memories change throughout time? How do we want to live in the future and which decisions do we make consciously?
How does history echo within us and how do we lay a foundation for exchange and connection? All of us are born with passed-on baggage, formed by the lived experiences of our ancestors — how can we reflect on these words, gestures, traditions and lifestyles? And ultimately: what do we want to pass on to the upcoming generation, “Beta”?
“How do we want to live in the future and which decisions do we make consciously? All of us are born with passed-on baggage, formed by the lived experiences of our ancestors - how can we reflect on these words, gestures, traditions, lifestyles? What do we want to pass on to the upcoming generation, „Beta“?”
