In october 2019 I listened to animals imitating humans

In his sculptures and site-specific installations Austrian artist Martin Roth grappled with current political, societal and ecological issues. His works echo the relationship between human beings and nature, sounding out the boundaries – or rather the transitions – between art and nature.

Visitors to the KUNST HAUS WIEN Garage find themselves in the midst of building rubble and broken pieces of antique-like figurative sculptures that symbolise the collapse of civilisation. Accompanying this apocalyptic scenario is a disconcerting sound backdrop: we hear birds imitating engineered sounds such as ring tones and sirens, an echo of our industrialised life. This acoustic experience is also referenced by the title of the exhibition: In October 2019 I listened to animals imitating humans. As was the case with the titles of previous installations, Martin Roth describes a particular event or a specific action. And, already, small plants are beginning to sprout among the rubble and the ruins of human civilisation, pointing to the possibility of a post-human world.

Curated by Margareta Sandhofer | Source: Kunsthaus Wien