Tattoo Series: HOME is a four letter word

Tattoo Series

“HOME is a four letter word”
Thomas Stempka

An eternal vagabond, the unfamiliar city has been a constant throughout his life, only feeling home when adrift. The main focus of his work revolves around the phenomenological and performative aspects of architecture: our sordid relationships with the built environment and embracing the unbuilt. Less a creator than a conduit, conversing with his materials and sites allows Thomas to end with tangible tales. Like a foreign grandmother’s valediction, you should be left uncertain of exactly what is being said, but take comfort in the warmth provided. He has shown and performed his work in galleries, streets, festivals and bathrooms in Austria, Brazil, Catalonia, Chile, Germany, Italy, Serbia, Portugal and the US.

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS.
HOME IS NOT A PLACE, IT’S A FEELING.
HOME IS AN EMOTIONAL CONCEPT.
HOME IS A SOCIETAL CONSTRUCT.
HOME IS WHERE NIGHTMARES LIVE.
HOME WATCHES YOU CRY AND SAYS NOTHING.
HOME WANTS TO KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE NOW.
HOME SWEARS ITS NOT JEALOUS.

HOME IS A FOUR LETTER WORD.

about the exhibition format “Tattoo Series”
In 2015, Christoph Srb and me (Reinhold Zisser) founded an artist run space in Seidlgasse 14, 1030 Vienna. The name of the space □□□□□■ (also written LLLLLL) was created from the light boxes which are attached to the exterior facade.
In 2018 i started an artistic project in which i used our artist run space as material for a conceptual artwork, by showing off the room at Parallelvienna, tranfering these light boxes as a central element of a room installation to the fair. The following offer was made there: Each artist, each curator, who has the symbol, the name of the space □□□□□■ tattooed, will receive a solo exhibition in 2019. Altogether, 23 people were tattooed during the six days of the fair.
The second phase of the action, the realization of the exhibitions began in the Space at Seidlgasse in Wien 1030 this March. Now we kindly invite you to the opening of our 3rd exhibition of the Tattoo Series “HOME is a four letter word” by Thomas Stempka.

The resulting shows investigate the network of positions and their mutual inscriptions that emerged at the fair, presenting them itself and thus making these abstract relationships visible. Opposite to the body of this group exhibition created by the presence of artists who got themself tattooed to be part of, is the body of the □□□□□■ exhibition space where the whole action takes part.
While at the beginning of the project the artist run space □□□□□■ was the vehicle for the observations of the dependencies and abysses of the art institution / market / artist into an exhibition context, the now running exhibition series show that the □□□□□■ space acted as an artistic instrument. The reflection and presentation of the relationships between artists and institution has been a central element of my work for many years and therefore also became a central element of the □□□□□■ space. Therein I understand curatorial action and the system of art institution as a material to generate artistic work. You can slip like a hermit crab into more and more new forms and Ieave then leave again. This parasitic strategy is also evident in this exhibition series. But it also becomes clear that this parasitic relationship is a mutual one in which the resulting inscriptions are permanent and interact.