In 1992, when the Yugoslav Wars and their ethnic conflicts were roaring on Austria’s doorstep, Graz-born curator and art historian Werner Fenz (1944–2016) conceived the multiyear project Kunst Heimat Kunst (1992–94, cocurated by Paolo Bianchi from 1993 onward), which confronted the audience with the topic of Heimat (homeland).

Over the course of three years, Kunst Heimat Kunst unfolded as a series of interventions in different parts of the world where the invited artists resided. The idea of the project was to delocalize an art exhibition, asking artists to tap into the concept of Heimat, or the meaning they assigned to it, as an associative field.

Kunst Heimat Kunst Revisited deals with Fenz’s archive, in particular the materials related to Kunst Heimat Kunst. It revisits the traces of this project which resonates with today’s debates around identity formation and belonging, but also around Heimatlosigkeit (“homelandlessness”) and statelessness, in light of resurgent nationalisms.

The exhibition takes place on the occasion of the start of the Werner Fenz Collection at steirischer herbst, an initiative to acquire and archive drawings, sketches, and other preparatory materials by selected applicants for the Werner Fenz Grant for Art in Public Space.

The first ten acquisitions are by: Tom Bogaert (Belgium/Hungary), Chang Gao (China/Germany/United Kingdom), Matthias Dämpfle (Germany), Danube Transformation Agency for Agency (United Kingdom), Department für öffentliche Erscheinungen (Germany), Lodewijk Heylen (Belgium), Christina Köhler (Germany), Bernadette Laimbauer (Austria), Marc O’Callaghan Selva (Spain), and Lisa Premke (Germany).