Curated by Bettina Steinbrügge, the 21er Haus (Vienna) presents BUT WE LOVED HER, a  Ursula Mayer‘s solo show.

The exhibition’s tittle comes from a press photo published in the British daily newspaper The Independent on 17 April 2013, the day of Margaret Thatcher’s funeral. In the days following Thatcher’s death, Mayer, who lives in London, collected all the newspaper articles printed on the former prime minister. These four words serve as a programmatic title for Mayer’s first solo museum exhibition in Vienna, but also delineate a working period around which the artist explores the possibilities of a neoliberal identity, the culture of consumerism in a post-capitalist society and its antecedents.

BUT WE LOVED HER deals with questions of individualism and personal freedom, and how our self-contained natures and emotions link to human self-destruction. Mayer creates a cinematographic setting for the 21er Haus that, beyond the limits of cinematic works, synthesizes objects, sculptures, collages and photos into a tangible frame of reference and action. Mayer propagates an open and unbiased space that underlines, in particular, the coincidental nature of social roles. This is embedded in the exhibition display, developed in cooperation with the Berlin-based architect Roger Bundschuh, as cinematic and artistic methods are reflected upon, challenging traditional thought patterns in order to develop productive approaches for the future.

The exhibition opened yesterday and can be seen till January 12, 2014.