Barbara Schurz (Russian

transliteration Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → and → the digraph , Cyrillic → , Armenian → or L ...

: Барбара Шурц) (born 1973) is an Austrian artist and self-described "

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

Life and work

Vienna University The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

she pursued

Slavic Studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics, is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, Slavic peoples, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or ...

and

Women's Studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...

. Subsequently, she studied conceptual art at the

Vienna Academy of Fine Arts The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna () is a public art school in Vienna, Austria. Founded in 1688 as a private academy, it is now a public university. The academy is also known for twice rejecting admission to a young Adolf Hitler in 1907 and 1908. ...

. She began traveling around the world, living as an artist and author in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, in addition to

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. Schurz is best known for her books, co-written with

Alexander Brener Alexander Davidovich Brener () (born 1957, in Alma-Ata, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, Kazak ASSR, Soviet Union), is a Russian performance artist and a self-described political activist. He is considered one of the main figures of Moscow Act ...

, that address the boundary between art and politics from an activist perspective. These are heavily influenced by

poststructuralism Post-structuralism is a philosophical movement that questions the objectivity or stability of the various interpretive structures that are posited by structuralism and considers them to be constituted by broader systems of power. Although diffe ...

, particularly the writings of

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

, and focus their attacks largely on

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

and

imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...

. Schurz accompanied Brener to the 'Violence to Endurance: Extreme Curating' art lecture at the ICA to both protest and involve themselves in the lecture. While there Brener defecated in front of the audience while Schurz threw peanuts at the lecturers.Lecture: 'Violence to Endurance: Extreme Curating' at the ICA
on Spoonfed.co.uk

Books

* ''Was tun?'' (1999, ) * ''Furzende Völker'' (2000, ) * ''Tattoos auf Gefängnissen'' (2001, ) * ''Bukaka Spat Here'' (2001, Austria, ; 2002, UK, )

References

1973 births Living people 21st-century Austrian women artists Austrian contemporary artists Academy of Fine Arts Vienna alumni {{Austria-artist-stub

Life and work

Books

See also

References