UNICA

Based on research into the technological and aesthetic potentials of immersive media, Anja Kirschner's video installation UNICA deals with the echoes of historical violence in post-apocalyptic computer game worlds. UNICA is informed by the work of the artist and writer Unica Zürn (1916–1970), in particular her break with the normative anatomical, architectural, and linguistic structures she found herself subjected to. Anja Kirschner transfers this sensibility to digital forms of production and historical filming locations, creating a profoundly topical and site-sensitive examination of a catastrophic present. By merging current post-cinematic forms of production such as motion capture with drawing and quasi-archaeological procedures, the artist condenses UNICA into a complex and poetic exploration of new technologies and the experiential worlds that emerge from them.

The publication documents Anja Kirschner's solo exhibition, which was commissioned by Fluentum. UNICA took place in the context of Fluentum's multi-year program series In Medias Res: Media, (Still) Moving. The publication includes essays by Luisa Lorenza Corna, Claire Finch, and Lisa Jeschke, as well as an introduction by the curators Dennis Brzek and Junia Thiede. The catalogue was designed by Katja Gretzinger and is published by DISTANZ Verlag.