lost/and/found – Nicole Six & Paul Petritsch

In lost/and/found, Nicole Six & Paul Petritsch juxtapose objects from two different collections. On the one hand, objects from the lost property office of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB)—items lost and found in trains and stations in Vienna and Bratislava. On the other hand, artefacts from the collection of the House of Austrian History. The encounters between these objects create ‘an archival space of found objects that maps and narrates history’, the artists explain about their project.

lost/and/found is the title of an exhibition by the artists Nicole Six & Paul Petritsch that opened in an unusual location: on a railway track at Vienna’s Westbahnhof station. But the exhibition did not intend to stay there long. This is because lost/and/found was on display in the TRAM gallery train, which ran regularly between Vienna and Bratislava from February to November 2018. The capital cities of Austria and Slovakia are not only geographical neighbours but are closely linked by history and culture. In 2018 these relationships were strengthened in three ways. The year 2018 marked 25 years of bilateral relations between Austria and Slovakia. It was also the 2018 Remembrance Year in Austria, and the European Year of Cultural Heritage. Austria’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union provided additional grounds to deepen ties in the region. Staged as part of the cultural programme of all these initiatives, the exhibition lost/and/found was created in collaboration with the House of Austrian History and documents coming together through (forced) separations.

The TRAM gallery train was an initiative of many different organisations. The idea came from the Austrian Embassy under the leadership of Ambassador Helfried Carl and the Austrian Cultural Forum in Bratislava. The Austrian Federal Railways, represented by Traude Kogoj (diversity representative at ÖBB-Konzern) and Evelyn Palla (board member of the company ÖBB Personenverkehr AG) and working together with the Curatorial Studies Institute and ZSSK, the Slovakian railway company, provided the rolling stock. This train then ran regularly on the route Vienna-Marchegg-Bratislava. The project title TRAM is a reminder of what was once the ‘Pressburg Tram’, which has been connecting the two capitals since 1914. At the same time, it points to the ongoing development of this route.

The exhibition lost/and/found was curated by Juraj Čarný and Monika Sommer.

Six und Petritsch   I    Projekt TRAM