The tri-country biennial “trigon” was founded in Graz in 1963, and for decades it presented an opportunity for wider artistic exchange between ex-Yugoslavia, Italy, Austria, and other countries. “trigon 67” in particular, which took place at the Künstlerhaus and its outdoor environs with the title “ambiente / environment,” was one of the biennial’s central exhibitions, featuring fifteen, nowadays well-known artists, who examined contemporary architectural issues and the perception of space.

To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of “trigon 67” and steirischer herbst, the Künstlerhaus has reevaluated these once heavily discussed approaches. In the exhibition "trigon 67/17 – ambiente nuovo/ post environment" (23.09 – 23.11.17), fifteen young artists from the Trigon region have once again revisited the original subject, presenting a range of practices that deal with space and architecture in contemporary art.

In the symposium, which will take place on three consecutive Thursday afternoons at three prominent art institutions in the Trigon region, academics, curators, and critics will discuss and investigate the exhibition “trigon 67,” highlighting its repercussions on contemporary art in Austria, Italy, and ex-Yugoslavia. In addition, the current exhibition “trigon 67/17 – ambiente nuovo / post environment” at the Künstlerhaus, Halle für Kunst & Medien, will be another main focal point.

At Trieste Contemporanea, the symposium will focus on space in Italian art, whereby the specific connections between Italian artists and cultural networks in1960s Styria are also taken into consideration.

In his opening presentation, Jürgen Dehm, the curator at Künstlerhaus Graz, will discuss the similarities and differences, developments, and shifts between “trigon 67” and “trigon 67/17” in relation to its thematic foundation: the conception of space in contemporary art. How is the concept of space conceived today? Fifty years later? What changes have occurred in respect to the initial aim of the tri-nation biennale “trigon”?

In collaboration, independent curator and director of Apoteka – Space for Contemporary Art Branka Benčić and art historian and curator Tihana Puc will present “Proposition for a Map of trigon,” providing an overview of the fragmentary map of exhibitions, artists, and artistic occurrences in the Trigon region in the 1960s and 1970s. By connecting and visualizing information from over 800 artists and artistic groups, they will present the possibilities for a 'distance reading' of “trigon,” discerning the often invisible and unregistered links between artists, as well as a basis for their further analysis ‘beyond trigon’.

Daniel Zwangsleitner has an academic background in architecture, urban planning, and photography. In his contribution, he seeks to discuss the manifold and extraordinarily fruitful situation in Graz / Styria from the end of the 1960s to the early 1990s. He connects the involved actors and actants such as politicians, architects, institutions, exhibitions, initiatives, discourses, international connections etc. to draw a comprehensive picture of this intensive period. He does so with a focus on the production of housing that put Styria at the forefront of architectural avant-garde.

Independent curator and art critic Antonio Grulli’s presentation will focus on the work of Micol Assaël, revolving around notions of the disquiet. How do the artist’s installations precipitate feelings of anxiety and create disquiet places? Can her work and the notion of disquiet, be a possible vision to move beyond the "white cube" and the way we conceive institutions today? Grulli even goes so far as to suggest an impossible proposal for a future “trigon”.