In her first institutional solo exhibition, “Rage Fluids,” the British artist Hannah Perry deals with the treatment of coming to terms with pain and loss, but also with euphoria and ecstasy against the background of current forms of communication as well as the traditional view of gender roles.

Perry has developed a broad course built from new works, specifically produced for this exhibition: In the main exhibition hall, she presents an extensive, hovering installation, the reflecting foil cover of which is set into vibration by the bass from the speakers, turning it thus into a powerful counterpart. The apsis of the Künstlerhaus is also taken in a space-filling manner. Here, Perry’s recently finished 360°-film is shown. It offers the viewer an opportunity to dive into a space filled with hovering and floating parts of the bodies of different genders. The voice-over reflects on the altered states of the self, subsequent to a traumatic experience, the responses—such as sadness and rage—as well as the different coping strategies. Sentence- and word-fragments of the 360°-film can also be found in Perry’s print works, presented in a side room of the exhibition hall. On the aluminium panels, screen prints are overlaid with cut-outs from the image archives of the artist, and with quickly splattered traces of colour, hastily stuck on foils have been abruptly partially removed.

In the performance, choreographed by Perry⎯ in cooperation with dancers⎯ for the opening of the exhibition, the tension between attraction and rejection, between the subject and the masses, between a state of shock and rage is addressed once more.

“Rage Fluids” reflects on personal experiences in different media, particularly in relation to cliché-ridden views of masculinity. The works do not only communicate emotional reactions in their diverse intensities to the outside world, but they can furthermore induce them in the viewer. Especially the installation works in the exhibition do affect the body, and occasionally they go even beyond their impact on the sensory perception. Hannah Perry works on a thorough exploration of everyday challenges, between “real life” and the representations of impressions and emotions on the different channels directed to an outside world.

Hannah Perry (*1984 Chester) lives and works in London. She studied in London at Goldsmiths College (BA 2009) and at the Royal Academy Schools (graduated in 2014). Solo exhibitions i.a.: “Viruses Worth Spreading,” Arsenal Contemporary, New York (2017); “100 Problems,” CFA, Berlin (2016); “Mercury Retrograde,” Seventeen, London (2015); “You’re gonna be great,” Jeanine Hofland, Amsterdam (2015); “Hannah Perry,” Zabludowicz Collection, London (2012). Group exhibitions i.a.: “I feel we think bad,” Arsenal Contemporary, Montreal (2016); “Private Settings: Art After the Internet,” MOMA Warsaw (2014); “New Order II,” Saatchi Gallery, London (2014); “Stedelijk at Trouw: Contemporary Art Club – DATA,” Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2013). Performances i.a. at the Serpentine Gallery, London (2014); Barbican Gallery, London (2013); V22, London (2012).

Videos and texts will be published during the duration of the exhibition in the KM–Online Journal: journal.km-k.at