UNIT: Hybrid family

2023

 
 
 
 
 
 

The stylized domestic interior brings to mind the traditional Biedermeier style living rooms, thus signifying the period of the Industrial Revolution that saw the rise of the middle class, which later on established the ideals of the nuclear family and institution of home in a new capitalist discourse . At first glance, seemingly ordinary, cozy and intimate, the space reveals itself as other than expected: unusual objects and motifs appear and disrupt the picture-perfect backdrop. Subtly incorporated elements and motifs from my K-9_topology: Hybrid Family (2016) project, such as breast pumps, my 1960's to 1990's Yugoslavian family album or the portrait of me breastfeeding a puppy have invaded the Biedermeier idyll and 'queered' a space otherwise full of heteronormative markers of home, marriage and family.

 
 

Maja Smrekar, “UNIT: Hybrid family”, 2023 Darker, Lighter, Puffy, Flat, at Kunsthalle Vienna, curated by Laura Amann

 
 
 
 
 

Textile Patterns design: Zlata Ziborova

Thanks to: Sanja Grcić, Marko Šuštar, Jože Zajc

Supported by SKICA WIEN