1. What did you think when you first encountered Harkeerat’s/Thomas’ work?

2. Where do you see the boundary between art and science?

3. What takes more time – the conception or the execution of one of your works?

4. What is your relationship to the viewers of your exhibitions?

5. Do you have any points of reference from art history? What are they?

6. What role do dynamic network structures play in your works?

The Conversation is an exhibition presenting works by HARKEERAT MANGAT (b. 1990, Vancouver, Canada) and THOMAS FEUERSTEIN (b. 1968, Innsbruck). It is the second chapter in a three-part exhibition series, in the context of which curator Pia-Marie Remmers invites artists to choose a position from the programme of Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman for a joint exhibition. The first chapter took place from May to July 2023 in the gallery’s projectspace [tart vienna] and brought together works by Devin Kenny and Franz West.

The works of Harkeerat Mangat are meticulously planned and deal with subjects and materials that evade all predictability. Influenced by his practical experience as a traditional Indian musician, he organises his films, paintings, drawings and exhibitions like musical scores, that come alive only through their interpretation. His attention focuses on processes of perception and thinking, both his own and that of his collaborators and the audience.

In his works, Thomas Feuerstein uses chemical and biological processes in order to explore economic, social, and also historical correlations. His sculptures and installations seize on the dynamics of network structures and in their composition and materiality remind us of laboratories or grotesque research facilities, where the world appears as a comprehensive organism in which everything can potentially be linked to everything else.