Enjoy your struggles

With Lőrinc Borsos, Dilar Dirik/Jonas Staal, Katalin Erdődi, Zsuzsi Flohr, Marty Huber, Tatiana Kai-Browne, Alexandra Pirici/Raluca Voinea, Toni Schmale, Sandra Selimovic/Simonida Selimovic, Hito Steyerl, Zsófia Szemző

The exhibition “Enjoy Your Struggles” borrows its title from a boxing manual, according to which “enjoying our struggles”, endurance and dedication are essential for victory. This attitude of sports(wo)men is taken as a point of departure by the participants of the international group exhibition, who arrive at the issue of everyday struggles through the exploration of their own experiences and shared, social and political processes. The emphasis is not on competition, but on potential points of connection between diverse struggles. How do our own struggles open our eyes to the situation of others, helping us us learn from and support one another?

Zsuzsi Flohr’s project “The Jewish Renaissance Boxing Club” revives the history of Jewish sports associations, exploring issues of self-representation and body politics through the media of art, performance and boxing. Boxing is no mere metaphor here: in the beginning of May, the club invites everyone—including complete beginners—to a two-day boxing workshop at the gallery.

In their video “Gipsy Stop Dancing”, the Vienna-based Serbian artists Sandra and Simonida Selimovic deal with recent acts of violence against Eastern European Roma and Sinti communities, and ask whether sports can be a means to overcome social exclusion. Also part of the exhibition, their music project “Mindj Panther” is inspired by the activism of Pussy Riot and the Black Panther movement. Subverting cultural clichés and prejudices, the female rappers fight for social justice as ninjas.

Through two works, the exhibition discusses the increasingly relevant Kurdish Women’s Movement, fighting for not only women’s rights, but also democracy in the Syrian region of Rojava (Western Kurdistan). Video artist Hito Steyerl pays tribute to her one-time friend Andrea, with whom she made experimental feminist martial art films in the ‘80s. Later on Andrea switched to real-life fighting and joined the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. In collaboration with artist Jonas Staal, activist and researcher Dilar Dirik reports on the extraordinary efforts of Kurdish women, who introduce revolutionary political agendas in the areas they liberate.

In the “Manifesto for the Gynecene”, the Romanian artist Alexandra Pirici and curator Raluca Voinea advocate for a new geological era that shifts the main agency to the “feminine principle”. The exhibition’s curators, Katalin Erdődi and Zsuzsi Flohr, present a joint work evoking Rózsa Schwimmer, an outstanding, but forgotten figure of the early Hungarian feminist movement.

Alongside politically and socially engaged approaches, other participating artists consider the notion of struggles from a more intimate, personal perspective. The video installation “Self-critical Portrait” by Lőrinc Borsos (János Borsos and Lilla Lőrinc) offers a peek into the process of couple therapy. Zsófia Szemző deals with feelings of vulnerability and fear in her drawings, while Toni Schmale’s work explores the intersection of gender, sexuality, sports and fetish.

On the opening night, starting at 8PM, Marty Huber presents a sporty lecture performance in English about “Queer Alliances Or How the Yogi Ended Up In the Box Club”. She connects sports with discourses around the body, gender roles and identity, questioning dominant stereotypes and expectations, while serving tennis balls.

On 7-8 May (both days 3-5PM) Tatiana Kai-Browne, collaborator of “The Jewish Renaissance Boxing Club”, will hold a boxing workshop. The workshop is open to anyone interested, no prior experience necessary. If you would like to participate, please register in advance at until 4 May. Please bring comfortable clothing and training shoes!

On 8 May, from 6PM join a guided tour with the curators, Katalin Erdődi and Zsuzsi Flohr.