Exhibit Review: Summer of Black Brown and White Love

The Kunsthalle Wien at the Museums Quartier is currently showing a Photography Exhibit titled Black Brown and White which will run till June 18, 2006, and another exhibit titled Summer of Love which will run till September 17, 2006, both of which I went to see today. Neither of them was particulalrly great.
Black Brown and White is a photogrpahy exhibit, which I had to of course go and see in keeping with my obsession with seeing most everything that comes to Vienna from South Africa. I was somewhat dissapointed. Maybe it wasn't that great, or maybe I just cannot appreciate photography. It featured photography which presented a rather varied view of South Africa: during and post apartheid, different races and different socio-economic groups. Things that stood out for me were the photographs by Zwelethu Mthethwa of workers from KwaNdebele having a 2:00 am to 10:00 pm day in juxtaposition with photographs of a girl in her new tutu on her stoep (terrace/porch). Also portraits by Peter Hugo of HIV/AIDS corpses, "Chikin Bizinis" by Andrew Tshabangu and the final piece in the exhibit by Berni Searle titled "About to forget" which was an amazing audio visual experience.
Summer of Love was a lot more exciting than Black Brown and White, and more cheerful with greater mass appeal. It would have been fun to go to with someone who had lived through the sixties, but was fun nevertheless. It was very trippy, hard to describe but very sixties. Personal favorite included, „Phantasy Landscape Visiona II“ by Verner Panton (pictured right) which you can go into, and is trippy and nice spot to chill if you don't mind taking off your shoes and have some time to spare. It smells like feet, and what is missing is a little man smoking weed in the corner to make it more authentic. Others were "Glow" by Bernard Cohen; "Cosmic Orchid" by Isaac Abrama and "Shiva" and "Strobe Room" by USCO . There's alot of nudity, drug referneces, and anti-Vietnam War Commentary, so maybe not something to see with conservative grandparents or impressionable little kids. If the weather we are currently experiencing in Vienna is getting you down, Summer of Love is just the pick up you may need, because even though I didn't really like I left it feeling pretty giddy.