Domestic Optimism
Act One - Modernism, a lesbian love story
Exhibition 2020
At the Grazer Kunstverein
Part of the Steirischer Herbst Parallell Program 2020
Curated by Kate Strain
















Photographs by Christine Winkler & Thomas Raggam
Reception Room · Set Pieces – series of seven cutout reproductions of selected campaign furniture and modernist Eileen Gray pieces, board, found images, flames, produced at Grazer Kunstverein, 2020
Main Gallery
Modernist furniture for dyke homes – Wallpaper #1 – Bibendum Chair by Eileen Gray, Alt Treptow, 2019
Modernist furniture for dyke homes – Wallpaper #2 – Coiffeuse by Eileen Gray, Schöneberg – created in collaboration with Kerstin Honeit, also displayed on city billboard at Ökonomiegasse 9, 2020
Modernist furniture for dyke homes – Wallpaper #3 – Transat Chair by Eileen Gray, Kreuzberg – created in collaboration with Line Skywalker Karlström, also displayed on city billboard at Ökonomiegasse 9, 2020
Soft Modular, After Eileen Gray’s Block Screens #1, fifteen panel hanging textile screen, bleached denim, recycled 90’s tracksuit pants, badges, metal components, produced on residency at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), 2019
Soft Modular, After Eileen Gray’s Block Screens #2, fifteen panel hanging textile screen, screenprinted denim, collaged denim jackets, embroidery, badges, paint, metal components, produced on residency at IMMA for the exhibition Seized by the Left Hand at Dundee Contemporary Arts, 2019
Soft Modular, After Eileen Gray’s Block Screens #3, fifteen panel hanging textile screen, bleached denim, recycled 90’s tracksuit pants, embroidery, badges, metal components, produced on residency at IMMA, 2020
An Abominable Little Perversion, A4 zine in English, 32 pages, full colour, produced with Market Gallery, Glasgow, as part of a remote Reading Troupe workshop Domestic Decadence, in collaboration with the participants, published by Grazer Kunstverein, 2020. Displayed in customized concrete structures
Domestic Optimism Script, A5 zine containing full script of video, in English and German, published by Grazer Kunstverein, 2020. Displayed in customized concrete structures
Screening Room Domestic Optimism, Act One: Modernism –
A Lesbian Love Story, looped video, running time 36’17”, coproduced by Grazer Kunstverein and Project Arts Centre, Dublin, with additional support from The Arts Council of Ireland, Fingal Co. Co. and Askeaton Contemporary Arts. Translations by Suza Husse, filmed by Louis Haugh at Askeaton Swimming Club, 2020
List of works
Reception Room · Set Pieces – series of seven cutout reproductions of selected campaign furniture and modernist Eileen Gray pieces, board, found images, flames, produced at Grazer Kunstverein, 2020
Main Gallery
Modernist furniture for dyke homes – Wallpaper #1 – Bibendum Chair by Eileen Gray, Alt Treptow, 2019
Modernist furniture for dyke homes – Wallpaper #2 – Coiffeuse by Eileen Gray, Schöneberg – created in collaboration with Kerstin Honeit, also displayed on city billboard at Ökonomiegasse 9, 2020
Modernist furniture for dyke homes – Wallpaper #3 – Transat Chair by Eileen Gray, Kreuzberg – created in collaboration with Line Skywalker Karlström, also displayed on city billboard at Ökonomiegasse 9, 2020
Soft Modular, After Eileen Gray’s Block Screens #1, fifteen panel hanging textile screen, bleached denim, recycled 90’s tracksuit pants, badges, metal components, produced on residency at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), 2019
Soft Modular, After Eileen Gray’s Block Screens #2, fifteen panel hanging textile screen, screenprinted denim, collaged denim jackets, embroidery, badges, paint, metal components, produced on residency at IMMA for the exhibition Seized by the Left Hand at Dundee Contemporary Arts, 2019
Soft Modular, After Eileen Gray’s Block Screens #3, fifteen panel hanging textile screen, bleached denim, recycled 90’s tracksuit pants, embroidery, badges, metal components, produced on residency at IMMA, 2020
An Abominable Little Perversion, A4 zine in English, 32 pages, full colour, produced with Market Gallery, Glasgow, as part of a remote Reading Troupe workshop Domestic Decadence, in collaboration with the participants, published by Grazer Kunstverein, 2020. Displayed in customized concrete structures
Domestic Optimism Script, A5 zine containing full script of video, in English and German, published by Grazer Kunstverein, 2020. Displayed in customized concrete structures
Screening Room Domestic Optimism, Act One: Modernism –
A Lesbian Love Story, looped video, running time 36’17”, coproduced by Grazer Kunstverein and Project Arts Centre, Dublin, with additional support from The Arts Council of Ireland, Fingal Co. Co. and Askeaton Contemporary Arts. Translations by Suza Husse, filmed by Louis Haugh at Askeaton Swimming Club, 2020
︎e-flux