XX Y X: Miriam Bajtala · CHRA

Miriam Bajtala (Screening)

DREI STIMMEN / THREE VOICES Video, 12:54 min,
Performer*in deutsch/englisch performers german/english: Markus Heinicke, Anna Mendelssohn, slowakischer slovak Off–Text: mb, Vertrieb distribution: sixpackfilm, 2011

The video begins with a text detailing my emigration to Austria: the social and economic conditions, the language learning, and the loss of language. Two performers can be seen reading the text in German (Markus Heinicke) and English (Anna Mendelssohn). The Slovak part is heard as an off–screen voice. Three Voices is not a translation, even though you hear a text in three languages. It also isn’t a dialog, despite two people being visible who are speaking and partially referring to one another. The film depicts a condensed approach to history, language, expression, and what remaining silent can mean. It showcases speaking to acquire language in front of a camera. What is necessary is said: from the starting point
in German, speech returns in English, and ultimately Slovak: I take ownership of the language that I have almost lost.
Teil von Nichts als Gespenster. Part of Nothing but ghosts.

THE ONLY SONG I REMEMBER IN SLOVAK Video, 05:00 min,
Sprache language: slowakisch mit deutschen/englischen Untertiteln Slovak with German/English subtitles, 2017

The only song I remember in Slovak is a video that gathers three generations of women, each singing a Slovak folk song in their home, and compares spaces, generations, song interpretations, and relationships. The fourfold performance is mounted in such a way that all women (grandma–aunt–mother–daughter), although standing in their rooms, sing a song together, the only one I can still sing in Slovak. Teil von Nichts als Gespenster. Part of Nothing but ghosts.

Miriam Bajtala (*geb. in Bratislava) lebt, schläft und arbeitet meistens in Wien. Themen ihrer künstlerischen Auseinandersetzung kreisen um Wahrnehmung, Raum, Erinnerung, (Selbst-) Ermächtigung, Zeugenschaft, Repräsentation und die Kraft der Poesie. Bajtalas Arbeiten sind in Ausstellungen und bei Filmfestivals zu sehen. 1998 – 2002: Akademie der bildenden Künste in Wien; 2012 – 2018: Universitätsassistentin und Dozentin an der Experimentellen, Kunstuniversität Linz; Stipendien und Preise: Gabriele-Heidecker-Preis (2021), Outstanding Artis Award für bildende Kunst (2012), artist-in residencies u.a. in Rom, Krumau, Paris und Los Angeles (Schindlerstipendium). Einzel (EA)- und Gruppenausstellungen, Screenings (Auswahl): 2025 Working Class Daughter (EA), Neue Galerie, Tiroler Künstler*innenschaft, Innsbruck, 2024: 18 Räume (EA), Kunstraum Goethestrasse, Linz; 2023: In den Körpern (EA), Bildraum 01, Wien; 2022: Oikos: ‘the house’, Wienwoche, Wien; 2020: dichtegeschichte, Kunstraum Weikendorf (EA), Kunst im öffenttlichen Raum NÖ; 2019: Displacement, Musrara Festival, Jerusalem (ISR); 2017: PERFORM, Videonale 16, Kunstmuseum Bonn (DE); 2016: Welt des Sprechens, Trans-Positionen-Festival Werkleitz, Halle (DE); 62. Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen (DE); Duisburger Filmwochen No.40 (DE); 2015: Das Als-ob-Prinzip, Magazin 4, Bregenzer Kunstverein, Bregenz; 2013: In meinem Namen, Secession, Wien (EA); 2011: terms of decision, Austrian Cultural Forum, London (GBR); 2010: Nichts als Gespenster, Forum Stadtpark, Graz (EA); usw. www.miriambajtala.org

CHRA: WONDEREEL (Solo Performance)

„chra is the kind of person who still carries a cassette recorder everywhere, even in the age of wireless earbuds and streaming. She likes the click of the buttons, the whir of the tape, and the way it captured sounds imperfectly—like life.
One drizzly evening, she found herself standing at the base of the city’s abandoned Ferris wheel. It was a towering relic, its once-bright paint faded and peeling.“

chra, the electronic music artist, is recognized for her compelling use of field recordings and low frequencies. Through integration of these elements, she weaves a distinctive sonic tapestry, offering listeners an immersive experience that transcends traditional electronic music boundaries. releases: editions mego, trost records, comfortzone, tsuki boshi, blackest ever black, jsme amm