ada is … Céline Struger

“Spiritual Warfare”

Vernissage 31.10., 19:00 Uhr
Finissage 14.11., 19:00 Uhr

Ausstellungsdauer: 1.11. bis 14.11.
Für Besuche abseits von Vernissage und Finissage bitte die Künstlerin kontaktieren unter 0650/5124927

Und noch eine ada-Empfehlung zum 31.10.: Gleichzeitig mit unserer Vernissage findet in den Bundesateliers in der Wattgasse 56-60 die Ausstellung “Make Love - No Future” von Kathrin Hanga und Robert di Pauli Gruber, wie Céline Struger Teil des Kollektivs Gottrekorder, statt.

Text by the curator
Matej Majda

He sprinkled the people with blood and disappeared for forty days in a cloud enveloping the mountain. Gradually, people stopped looking at the glow illuminating the summit, and the high priest was asked to create a substitute for the absent god. The women, sons, and daughters took the gold earrings off their ears and melted them down into the shape of a calf. The people bowed down to it, brought sacrifices, and proclaimed, “This is God.” When the prophet came down from the mountain and saw this, he took the golden calf and burned it in the fire. What remained of it was crushed to powder and scattered on the water. He then forced the people to drink it down to the last drop.

In the suspended time of an apartment in Ottakring, destroyed images from ancient times reappear on the water’s surface. Water flows through sculptures marred by the last iconoclastic revolution. One had its face cut off to strip it of its power. All that remains of others is a pile of severed ears, without which the idol cannot hear prayers. Artist Céline Struger freely draws from the repertoire of historical forms and their reinterpreted meanings in pop culture. The exhibition thus juxtaposes a biblically accurate depiction of a seraphim, a barbaric-looking bone decoration created in the second half of the 19th century, and a recent Hollywood variation on stigmata. Considering the ahistorical return of certain sentiments today, the abuse of faith, tradition, and images as a basis for restrictive policies, this artistic gesture is not without justification. It demonstrates how much of what is considered ancient and natural actually originated in modernity. Some images are swept away by time, only to be replaced by others.

Many years later, the prophet who destroyed the idols had a bronze serpent made and hung it on a flagpole. The people were then plagued by poisonous snakes and believed that a look at the bronze statue would save them from death by bite. In the centuries that followed, people worshipped it by burning incense. It’s a struggle between iconoclasm and iconophilia taking place within a single soul – a genuine spiritual warfare.

Bio EN
Céline Struger, *1982 in Klagenfurt, is an Austrian artist working in sculpture and site-specific art. Her focus lies on the redetermination of sites and their original genius loci, dealing with issues like post-capitalism, mythology and collective consciousness. She often uses water as a sculptural medium, interacting with various materials to create dynamic surfaces and evoke themes of fluidity, erosion, and decay. She recently received a scholarship from the Austrian Ministry of Culture in Paris (2023) and had previously worked in artist residencies in Germany, Canada, and South Korea. Most recently, she exhibited her work in solo exhibitions at INDUSTRA in Brno (2025), at Studio PRÁM in Prague (2024), in a duo exhibition at Galerie VUNU in Bratislava (2024), as well as in a major public art project in Villach (2024). The artist lives and works in Vienna. For ADA, Céline Struger is developing new work and is going to implement an elaborate spatial intervention.