Studio Offbeats 19.0: Patrick Schabus

Verbindung zu esel.at
Patrick Schabus - Yearning for a moribund Interregnum [Banéscht 1]
Opening: Fr. 22.08.2025, 19h
Finissage + Artist Talk: Sa. 30.08.2025, 19h
Patrick Schabus im Gespräch mit Kurator Alexander Felch
Studio Offbeats presents yearning for a moribund Interregnum / Banéscht 1, an exhibition of new graphite works by Patrick Schabus. Executed within the Banéscht framework, these compositions function as autonomous operational fields—densely wired systems whose logics are built for use, not for story.
In each piece, interlocking forms map out corridors, choke points, and blockades that recall the structure of logistical grids or contested urban plans. The linework operates with an almost algorithmic precision, creating interdependencies and dead-ends that resist decorative reading. Scale is ambiguous; the works could be macro-architectures or micro-strategic schematics, each equally legible as a model for maneuvering under constraint.
Banéscht refuses the safety of fictionalized utopias and identitarian allegories. It does not seek to transport; it seeks to test. These works are preparations, not depictions—worlds in which every mark is a decision, and every decision is an exposure.
The “moribund interregnum” of the title signals a suspended state: the interval where systems appear stable only because no actor has yet moved. In this charged stasis, Schabus presents the infrastructure of possible action, stripped of narrative comfort.
Patrick Schabus’ work focuses on history, exploring issues of fictional lineages, especially as they affect current political and socio-economic policy. His projects range from journals, curatorial projects, to video and installation all situated in an science-fantasy universe called Banéscht . Those projects are research-driven studies that reference the past to show how and where it still casts shadows on the now. He is currently the publishing director of The Friendly Facts a curatorial platform.