THE HORSES ARE COMING
In THE HORSES ARE COMING, Christina Werner focuses on animal symbolism as a main visual and staging strategy of National Socialism: Eagles, lions, horses and sheepdogs functioned in the Third Reich as symbols of strength, purity and order – codes that are still effective today: When Viktor Orbán presents Austria with two horses as a „sign of friendship“ in 2022 or Herbert Kickl calls for the launch of a mounted police force, it becomes clear how animal motifs continue to be used as strategic symbols in right-wing and authoritarian narratives.
The work uses the technique of collage to visualise ideological codes by fragmenting and rearranging historical image sources. It is thus in the tradition of political art, such as the photomontages of John Heartfield, who worked visually against the rise of fascism in the 1930s.
Nike Bekemeier, Curatorial Assistence, Westlicht Vienna
In her artistic practice, Christina Werner analyses political image strategies, mechanisms of visual power and their circulation in the media. Her work focuses on global developments such as the rise of neo-fascism and the role of public space as a place of commemoration. The archive is becoming increasingly important as a source of knowledge and starting point for many of Werner's works.