Ariadne Randall – Reverse Cowgirl β

It's a concert, it's a nature documentary, it's a piece about becoming who we want to be, and what we leave behind along the way. Our gender, for instance? It's a way of asking what home means if they'd throw you in jail there for being who you are. Caution: includes sinful dancing and historical instruments. To ensure the highest performance quality, please exchange your identity with the Department of Performance Quality before experiencing the qualities of this performance.

Note: A complimentary exhibition exploring elements of this project, including video art, drawings, and installation, will be highlighted during Vienna Art Week, November 10 to 17 at Galerie Peter Gaugy. You are cordially invited to attend.

Ariadne Randall is an American artist and composer living in Vienna. She creates spaces for imagination through sound, text, and image. She holds degrees from UCLA and Bard MFA, where she studied music and poetry. She has performed widely, from Lincoln Center to countless basements, and has been a part of work featured on the BBC, CNN, and Artforum. Previously, she lived in New York City, where she organized underground venues, zines and radio.

Gudrun Schmidinger – Collective Action (a solo show)

Collective Action (a solo show) is a one-woman rally about the need to move past hyper individualism, towards solidarisation and communality. Inspired by podcast dudes, cottage core, affordable rent and real life magic, Gudrun Schmidinger is on a quest of defeating political apathy, taking the audience on a persona packed, banger blasting journey. After all, in these crisis ridden and tumultuous times, the world needs more… scratch cards.

Expected audience reactions:

“A gift that keeps on giving.”

“Schmidinger’s asking all the right questions and giving mostly wrong answers.”

“I think the market will fix everything.”

“Heart-warming, hilarious and hauntingly clever.”

“High performer mindset meets low budget production.”

Gudrun Schmidinger (she/her) is a Vienna/Glasgow based performance maker and director. Her work is process-based and collaborative, converging at the meeting point of theatre, performance, and politics.

About Bears in the Park and the Huggy Bears Mentoring Programme:

Since 2016, Huggy Bears has been a pillar of innovative performance art, supporting emerging artists in Vienna. Each year, the mentoring programme provides three or four individuals or collectives with comprehensive support in areas from production to administration, equipment and dramaturgy. In a series of different presentation formats as well as regular feedback sessions within the group, the young artists’ projects develop into very special pieces. At the end of the nine-month programme, the mentees get to present their performance projects for the first time on a big stage in Vienna. This year, the Huggy Bears Days will be held as a co-operation between brut Wien and WUK performing arts.
The programme is operated by the initiative Bears in the Park based at Kempelenpark in Vienna’s 10^th district and run by Philippe Riéra and Charlotte Bastam. The initiative is dedicated to supporting the Vienna performance scene and helping it grow. To foster this goal, the Huggy Bears are offered not only reliable advisors but rehearsal spaces at Kempelenpark. Each autumn, Bears in the Park releases an open call for artists to submit their project proposals for the following year.