The local -specific performance can be seen on June 20 and 21, 2025 with free admission in the large exhibition hall of Belvedere 21.
With JANUS Explore the artist and researcher Katrin Hornek and the choreographer and performer Karin Pauer not only the complex cultural and political legacies, but also the current dynamics of the nuclear age.
Performance was specially developed for Belvedere 21 – a building of historical importance that was originally designed as an Austrian pavilion for the 1958 World Exhibition in Brussels. A central theme of the first expo after the Second World War was the “peaceful use of nuclear energy”, which was not only reflected in the exhibitions of numerous country pavilions, but also led to the radical proposal to provide the world exhibition itself through its own nuclear reactor. The gardens of the “colonial department” should be irrigated with the cooling water.
Places this spraying optimism in terms of nuclear energy JANUS the discovery of radionuclides in Vienna, that come from atmospheric atomic bomb tests of that time. The Belvedere 21 becomes a lively narrator who combines polyphonic knowledge with geological traces and geopolitical nuclear narratives.
In performance, celebrating, energetic, resistant, dissolving and newly composing bodies interweave a dense multi -sensory exploration of what it means to live in nuclear anthropocene. Hornek and Pauer create an immersive, physically experienced room to reflect on the traces of nuclear science in bodies, plants, floors and water. With movement, sound and collected voices, they negotiate the unprecedented alliance of technology, military and science – from the first nuclear tests to the current renaissance of the nuclear industry.
JANUS is part of an interdisciplinary research project and builds on Hornek’s previous projects The Anthropocene Surge (2019–24, together with Michael Wagreich) and the exhibition testing grounds (8.3.-2.6.2024, Secession, together with Karin Pauer, Sabina Holzer and Zosia Hol̸ubowska). The aim is to bring scientific knowledge into the public and to promote interdisciplinary dialogue. In the context of JANUS Collaborative research encounters of the artists with invited experts from different fields took place in order to penetrate academic borders and create a “embodied archive” that forms the basis of performance.
Concept, artistic management & interior design: Katrin Hornek
Choreography & artistic direction: Karin Pauer
Performer*Inn: Martina De Dominicis, Camilla Schielin, Karin Pauer, Gargő D. Farkas
Sound: Katrin Euler
Scenographic advice and production: Hector Peljak (Studio Peljak)
Produktion: Mollusca Productions / Nefeli Antoniadi
Curator: Christiane Erharter
Janus is funded by the Vienna Science, Research and Technology Fund (WWTF, NXT22-002) and supported by the University of Applied Arts Vienna (Department of Local Art) and the University of Vienna. Co -produced by Kunstverein Argo with the support of the city of Vienna (MA7) and the Belvedere.
You can find more information at: belvedere.at/janus
Free tickets at: www.belvedere.at/programm
High -resolution press pictures can HERE be downloaded.
Janus – premiere of the performance of Katrin Hornek and Karin Pauer
The local -specific performance Janus examines the traces of Nuclear history in bodies, landscapes and society. Inspired by Belvedere 21 as a historical contemporary witness, performance combines movement, sound and science to an intensive reflection on the nuclear anthropocene and the continuing effects of the use of nuclear technologies.
Datum: June 20, 2025, 6:30 p.m. – June 20, 2025, 9:00 p.m.
Art: Performances/stage
Ort: Belvedere 21
Arsenalstraße 1
1030 Wien
Austria
URL: https://www.belvedere.at/event/public-program-janus-performance
Janus – performance and artist discussion
The local -specific performance Janus von Katrin Hornek and Karin Pauer examines the traces of nuclear history in bodies, landscapes and society. Inspired by Belvedere 21 as a historical contemporary witness, performance combines movement, sound and science to an intensive reflection on the nuclear anthropocene and the continuing effects of the use of nuclear technologies. In the subsequent conversation with Katrin Hornek (visual artist), Karin Pauer (choreographer, performer), geologist Michael Wagreich (University of Vienna, Anthropocene Working Group) and the anti-atomic campaigner Patricia Lorenz (Global 2000, Friends of the Earth Europe) is contextualized. In the focus, interdisciplinary perspectives on life in the nuclear anthropocene and the question of how artistic, geological and political narratives shape our understanding of it. Moderated by Claudia Slanar.
Datum: 06/21/2025, 3:00 p.m. – 21.06.2025, 6:00 p.m.
Art: Performances/stage
Ort: Belvedere 21
Arsenalstraße 1
1030 Wien
Austria
URL: https://www.belvedere.at/event/public-program-janus-performance-und-kuenstlerinnengespraech