Publication on the occasion of the FEMINi̶s̶m̶TC: ПРЕЙЪР
public art project in Vienna which ran from March 3 to April 3, 2014.
15. 5. 2014 OPENING: 19:00 – 22:00
+ 50 original Night glowing ПРЕЙЪР Posters for free!

TOSHAIN / CEEH
Launching Multiple Label Names – EXHIBITION
May 1 – 31, 2014

The poster campaign connects established forms of street art with methods gleaned from the design and advertising industry, while, at the same time, following the conventions and rituals of graffiti, as Toshain and Ceeh use spray cans in the same fashion as their colleagues on the hip hop front. In his graffiti eulogy Kool Killer, Jean Baudrillard wrote, “a linguistic ghetto erupts into the city with graffiti, a kind of riot of signs,“ and that these “signs don’t operate on the basis of force, but on the basis of difference.“

“FEMINi̶s̶m̶”, Toshain / Ceeh say, “looks to the border regions of perception, a potential space for emotional and intellectual reflection. We create spaces where content is always present, but not always perceptible. This is about content that reaches beyond representation/abstraction/performance/installation.“

I recently had an email exchange with Vienna based artists Anna Ceeh and Iv Toshain. Working both individually and collectively they are currently in the midst of an art project/campaign titled FEMINi̶s̶m̶. The project requires and utilizes text/slogans from a series of international artists that are then printed and spray-painted with phosphorescent medium. The posters have been pasted around the city in various locations and quantities. Below is our dialogue.

ArtStars_Prayer It’s an unlikely scene for the city of Vienna – posters saying “I cum on FEMINi̶s̶m̶” and “Love sex, hate sexism!”

These glow-in-the-dark florescent posters are not advertising, rather they are part of a public art project by FEMINi̶s̶m̶ Toshain / Ceeh, a pretty badass art label.

Can you imagine how it would look to have 4,000 glow-in-the-dark posters up? Well, we think it would look pretty awesome! The Vienna-based art label FEMINi̶s̶m̶ Toshain / Ceeh realised this in Vienna’s 23 districts for their public exhibition called ПРЕЙЪР ( = Bulgarian for ‘Prayer’). Read on for a little more information!

As part of an exhibition currently on at the Künstlerhaus Passagegalerie, there are now 4,000 glow-in-the-dark sprayed posters up around Vienna’s 23 districts offering ideas around feminism, as created by the Vienna-based art-label FEMINi̶s̶m̶ Toshain / Ceeh.

Co-curated by Iv Toshain and Anna Ceeh, the controversial exhibition includes new works by Marina Abramovic, Linda Bilda, Siggi Hofer and Olaf Nicolai, among others.

The FEMINi̶s̶m̶ art label (which works under several names, including XXXXXi̶s̶m̶TC) in Vienna recently opened a citywide exhibition with 4,000 posters pasted up around Vienna’s 23 districts. The message? To redefine feminism. “We think it is old and rigid,” they say. “And we are not feminists.”

Rather, they are FEMINi̶s̶ts.

For this KÖR Public Art GmbH funded project, Toshain/ Ceeh have invited acclaimed as well as young international artists to create slogans and messages based on their manifest. The artist duo will transform them into four thousand manually coated noctilucent A1-sized posters.

Shirt photo shooting highlighting an interesting conversation between contemporary art and pop culture, activism, self awareness and youthful consumption of design, while reworking the definition of free speech and blurring the lines between commercial and culture law.

"An undercover location, which has been abandoned and forgotten for a very long time, is occupied and transformed into an underground "battlefield show" only for one night.

part of S/HE/ IS THE ONE exhibition and Vienna Art Week
Kunstraum Niederösterreich,  Herrengasse 13, Vienna

Curator: Ursula Maria Probst

Eigentlich hatten wir ja vor, in der Überschrift einen halblustigen Witz mit Adam und Eva zu machen, denn erstens klingt Anna und Iv (das wie das englische Eve ausgesprochen wird) so ähnlich, und zweitens möchten die beiden den Geschlechterkampf in der Form, die wir bis jetzt kennen dekonstruieren und die Karten neu mischen. Seit VALIE EXPORT ist hierzulande keiner Künstlerin der Durchbruch dieser weltweit eingezogenen gläsernen Decke gelungen, die auf Werke mit Muschibezug und theoretischem Konzept dahinter besonders sensibel und folglich undruchlässig reagiert. Dass das nicht an dem von Georg Baselitz eingeworfenen Idiotenargument liegt, demnach Frauen „nicht so gut“ malen, ist dem Teil der Menschheit mit zwei tatsächlich funktionierenden Gehirnhälften natürlich klar.
Also haben wir uns vor einigen Wochen mit Anna Ceeh und Iv Toshain getroffen und ein Interview geführt, das uns rein inhaltlich und auch formal etwas überfordert hat. Deshalb haben wir einfach alles niedergeschrieben und dann immer wieder Antwort-Updates erhalten. Oder Richtigstellungen, ganz wie ihr wollt.

The art project FEMINismTC, however, suggests how a contemporary culture increasingly preoccupied with the tenets of shareable content — where “going viral” operates as a powerful commerce and culture engine — encourages the convergence of street wear with high art. Vienna-based artists Anna Ceeh and Iv Toshain hijack the very premise of fashion’s logo branding — sans irony, but with the “TM” being replaced by their “TC” initials as their faux trademark, obviously marked by a satirical sense — in simple T-shirts that unpack and make accessible identity politics in a playful yet intimate way.

FEMINismTC criticizes the ideology (“ism”), undermining the female (FEMIN), referring to the multiple meanings associated with the words: femin, feminine or woman, not real woman as such.(1)
2012 gründeten Anna Ceeh und Iv Toshain das Label FEMINismTC, ein Projekt, das die beiden Künstlerinnen in zielgerichteter Dynamik stetig weiter entwickeln und in nicht vorhersehbaren Formaten der Öffentlichkeit präsentieren. Somit ist die FEMINismTC : БAЙXTE bei Charim Projekte als eine temporäre Station eines langfristigen Unternehmens zu sehen.

While most eyes were on Berlin Art Week this weekend, there was another spectacle in Vienna — БАЙХТЕ. There is nothing like some good glow-in-the-dark fun, especially with black-lit phrases with a purpose. In featuring feminist icons like VALIE EXPORT and Carolee Schneemann, the 14 artists in this group show were invited to use spraypaint to write what feminism means to them today.

At this time of year, most eyes are on Berlin Art Week, but over in Vienna, there is one exhibition making a different kind of statement that is above and beyond your usual gallery experience.
Vienna-based artists Iv Toshain and Anna Ceeh are finally throwing forth a massive group show based upon a project idea they conjured up two years ago called FEMINismTC.