Monographic publication on Hungarian artist Karina Mendreczky, the joint recipient of the 2015 Kunsthalle Wien Prize, who creates fictional landscapes using light and shadow with delicate lyricism.
As a recipient of the 2015 Kunsthalle Wien Prize (a price established in 2002 and awarded in collaboration with the University of Applied Arts Vienna and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna), Karina Mendreczky created the installation Thin Dream at Kunsthalle Wien Karlsplatz. Silhouettes of acrylic trees, whose details were hand-carved with an etching needle, were projected onto the back wall of the gallery to create the impression of actual large-format drawings. Mendreczky draws on the techniques of graphic printing and stage design to remind us that nature cannot be reproduced, although it frequently serves as a projection for our desires. At the same time, Thin Dream reflects on Mendreczky's constant travels between Hungary, where she was born, and Austria, questioning the idea of a fixed sense of place.
Published following the exhibition “Preis der Kunsthalle Wien 2015,” Kunsthalle Wien, from November 27, 2015, to January 17, 2016.
Karina Mendreczky (born 1988 in Budapest, Hungary, lives and works in Vienna, Austria) studied graphic and print arts at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. In 2014/2015 she pursued a Bachelor of Arts for Print & Time-Based Media at Wimbledon College of Arts in London. Since 2013, she has participated in exhibitions in Austria and the United Kingdom.
