Dean Kissick: Why did you want to start a magazine?

Rita Vitorelli: I studied painting and graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in the 1990s. There was a lot of new discourse in Vienna then, which I found very exciting. I don’t know if you ever heard of the Institut für Gegenwartskunst [Institute for Contemporary Art]? It was run by Ute Meta Bauer, and I experienced a great tension, between this institute and what you saw in traditional painting classes. I felt torn between these two sides: I wanted to be a painter and something else, but I didn’t know what. After I finished my diploma, it soon became clear that I wasn’t attracted to the idea of a conventional artist’s career, because that mainly means waiting. You’re always waiting for someone: for the right gallerist, a studio visit, a curator, being mentioned in a magazine ... And I thought this was not interesting, being dependent on a structure that I can hardly control. As an artist, especially a young artist, a lot of people make you feel that you don’t have any power. And it’s true: In this system, artists are more on the powerless side. So, I started to think about whether I could create my own ecosystem. Can you be a painter and a curator, or a painter and a gallerist at the same time? What are the consequences? ...


— This text appears in full in Spike #81/82 – The Post-Cool. Treat your own passions to a copy (or an e-paper!) in our online shop —