Exploring Interdisciplinary Arts with Lola Pfeifer
Lola Pfeifer next to her work: Nach dem Dusch bemerkt, dass ich mein Handtuch vergaß, 2024. Images courtesy of the artist.
After a short break, we still have a few articles to finalise this season. Previously, we have navigated through the various, alternative ways of making and exhibiting art. When we reflected on the relationship between politics and art, we not only discovered that artworks always carry a message, but also that art is very multifaceted and that it is not only built around classical paintings. Some examples include self-destructive performance art as well as alternative pornography. Just like art is not always a renaissance painting, it also does not always have to be exhibited in a classical museum. We saw this in the last two articles, where artworks were exhibited in off spaces as well as printed in a self-made zine.
Today, we are taking it a step further – what if I told you, that there are artists out there, who take a little bit of every art form and beyond, to create something new? Today, we meet Lola Pfeifer – an interdisciplinary artist who recently graduated from the University of Applied Arts Vienna (Universität für Angewandte Kunst, colloquially referred to as ‘die Angewandte’).
This week, Vienna is sweaty – not only from the insufferable, hot weather (it is above 30 degrees), but also because the first days of summer are basically a marathon run in every capital city. Everything must be done quickly before everyone goes on vacation. Businessmen start taking conference calls during their morning runs, mothers run to get their last pedicures before travelling to their Bali yoga resort, and students run to campus during exam season in order to secure the last free spots in the library. Lola Pfeifer is one of those students, but as an art student, she does not rush to the library, but frequently pendles between her art studio and university exhibition space.
When I met Lola at the Angewandte campus this week, she quite literally ran to me. Stressed and restless, she was fidgeting with her hands and moving hectically while speaking with a broad smile. In the hallway, we bumped into her professor, whom she immediately approached for quick impressions and advice on her work. Lola politely apologised and emphasised how important it was to talk to her professor one last time. Only two days later, she would be graduating in the very space we were meeting, and yet she still made time to have an interview with me. I was impressed by how she was handling everything, as she still had a very cheerful attitude with plenty of patience to have a peaceful conversation for ArtNaVee.
While drinking iced coffee, we sat on the cool floor in the middle of her Angewandte graduation exhibition, called “Der Titel ist der Titel, Metapher Metapher, und Gefühle kantig” – ‘The Title is the Title, a Metaphor is a Metaphor, and the Feelings are Edgy’ – and began our interview.
Der Titel ist der Titel, Metapher Metapher, und Gefühle kantig, installation by Lola Pfeifer, 2024.
You call yourself an interdisciplinary artist. What does that mean?
In a general sense, interdisciplinary means that you collect knowledge from different disciplines (i.e. different study fields) and put them together. Or you take something from one discipline and put them into another. In my case, I do interdisciplinary arts, which is basically the same – I take processes and practices from other disciplines and use them for my art.
One of my graduation artworks is called “https://opferderumstaende.cargo.site/” (Victim of the Circumstances), which is the link to a website that shows my scientific research. It’s an ongoing project in which I do research on a shard. It’s a fake Imari shard, which was produced in Europe, yet was supposed to copy a Japanese shard. The research is clearly art historic. However, it is not presented as a scientific project, but as an artistic one. As a result, the aesthetic properties of this research are used in the practices of all installation artworks.
Viewers can scan the QR-code on the object and then are directed to the website. Is interacting with the viewer part of your art?
Definitely, I believe all art interacts with the viewer! I define my art in-between the lines of sculptures and installations. Sculptures always have a 3D-perspective – you can walk around and look at it from different angles. You can also touch or scan some of my objects. I also have objects that react to touch. So yeah, definitely. But to me, it’s not really so much about interacting with the viewer, but rather letting the viewer realise that they are in a relationship with the object. It’s not like there is one object and one person; they are related as soon as they encounter each other, hence they work together.
https://opferderumstaende.cargo.site/ by Lola Pfeifer, 2024.
Seems like there is also a physicality involved in your art. What does art mean to you?
In my art, I connect and show relationships between objects. For example, for my graduation installation, I believe it makes total sense to exhibit like this. The aesthetic details of the backpack can be found in the print, and the colours of the print are in the photograph. So, I’m really thinking about how objects can be interwoven with each other, with the viewer, as well as with the context. It’s very layered – there is not just one detailed message. Most of the time, it’s an all-surrounding, intricate net of relations.
What will you be exhibiting at the Angewandte Festival?
Currently, we are at my exhibition called “Der Titel ist der Titel, Metapher Metapher, und Gefuehle kantig.” In here, I show three artworks that each are connected to one part of the title. (1) ‘https://opferderumstaende.cargo.site/ ‘is the most straightforward concept that discusses the contextualisation and narratives behind artworks. (2) ‘Wird es wieder ganz, wenn ich es in Reis lege?‘ (Will it be a whole again, once I put it into rice?) represents how artworks are metaphors, and that emotions can be put into metaphors, which then can be put into poetical matters. (3) ‘nach dem Duschen bemerkt, dass ich das Handtuch vergaß’ (after showering, I realised that I forgot my towel) discusses the emotional distress in mundane situations. This means that there are three big parts: the emotional state of being, the aesthetic, and the abstract (symbolism, metaphors). These objects represent the interdisciplinary way I work, because it shows how I rethink science and concepts through contextualisation.
Das Moment, als ich realisierte, dass ich mein Handtuch vergaß by Lola Pfeifer, 2024.
So, they are all layers that work with each other. How do you hope that the viewer will receive it?
The fun part is that there are similarities as well as contrasts in the installation. Maybe you believe that these things do not fit well at all, perhaps you may find a connection. For example, I can see the contrast of wet and dry, metal and ceramics, backpack and plastic bag. Art can be very abstract, which makes it hard for people to understand. But I don’t think everyone has to get it. Once you see an artwork, or if you recognise the different shapes in a work, you already got it! That’s already the success of an artwork to me – as soon as someone looks at it, there’s a whole relationship that is bonding. If you want to think deeper into the works, of course you can do that, but you don’t always have to. I may think of it very deeply, but everybody experiences art differently. In a way, it can also be very simple.
Next week, 26-29th of June 2024, the Angewandte Festival will take place on their campus as well as throughout the city of Vienna. During this festival, the art students will exhibit their final artworks of the semester, including fun activities such as performances, guided tours, and art workshops. You can find the programme here. Lola Pfeifer’s graduation installation will also be a part of the Angewandte festival, you can view it at the Vordere Zollamtstrasse 7, 1030 Wien.