Tisch Wertheimer (c) Mayrhofer Katharina
The table that doesn't belong to us
Research presentation by Katharina Mayrhofer
The table that doesn't belong to us
Research presentation by Katharina Mayrhofer
Chair & organisation: Helen Davy
The starting point for Katharina Mayrhofer’s PhD research is a black table that came into the possession of her family in the course of the “wild Aryanizations” between 1938-1945. Oral tradition and fact-based evidence show that it originally came from Ranshofen and belonged to the former landowners, the Wertheimer family. In the search for answers to the questions of who stole the table and how it ended up hidden in the attic of an inn for many decades, Katharina came across a previously unknown, dark chapter of family history. Since then she has been asking herself: How do you deal with Nazi looted property in family ownership? This artistic-scientific work should be an impetus to develop an awareness of injustice about stolen objects in one's own family possession and encourage an unbureaucratic return to the original owners’ family, if possible. Based on this exploration of the subject, she shows that this discourse is of public importance.
Katharina Mayrhofer (b. 1987) is a visual artist and PhD candidate at the University of Arts and Industrial Design Linz. Her work is dedicated to the dynamic phenomenon of space – every human creates space, we construct, organize, and live through it. This has such a high priority to Katharina that her artistic development is shaped above all else by this phenomenon. Her installations show what space can be and how it can be altered with. Katharina has exhibited in Austria and across Europe, and has been the recipient of various grants, awards, and residencies including the Würdigungspreis des Bundesministeriums für Wissenschaft und Forschung (2013) and the Junge Kunst, Kunstprojekt der Sparkasse Passau (2020).
Research presentation by Katharina Mayrhofer
Chair & organisation: Helen Davy
The starting point for Katharina Mayrhofer’s PhD research is a black table that came into the possession of her family in the course of the “wild Aryanizations” between 1938-1945. Oral tradition and fact-based evidence show that it originally came from Ranshofen and belonged to the former landowners, the Wertheimer family. In the search for answers to the questions of who stole the table and how it ended up hidden in the attic of an inn for many decades, Katharina came across a previously unknown, dark chapter of family history. Since then she has been asking herself: How do you deal with Nazi looted property in family ownership? This artistic-scientific work should be an impetus to develop an awareness of injustice about stolen objects in one's own family possession and encourage an unbureaucratic return to the original owners’ family, if possible. Based on this exploration of the subject, she shows that this discourse is of public importance.
Katharina Mayrhofer (b. 1987) is a visual artist and PhD candidate at the University of Arts and Industrial Design Linz. Her work is dedicated to the dynamic phenomenon of space – every human creates space, we construct, organize, and live through it. This has such a high priority to Katharina that her artistic development is shaped above all else by this phenomenon. Her installations show what space can be and how it can be altered with. Katharina has exhibited in Austria and across Europe, and has been the recipient of various grants, awards, and residencies including the Würdigungspreis des Bundesministeriums für Wissenschaft und Forschung (2013) and the Junge Kunst, Kunstprojekt der Sparkasse Passau (2020).
The table that doesn't belong to us
November 16, 2020, 14:00h
Location
Vienna, Art & Science Seminar Room, Salzgries 14, 2nd floor
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Students
- Helen Emily Davy (Chair)