The installation Kubus EXPORT– Der Transparente Raum has represented a distinctive site within Vienna’s urban fabric since its installation in 1999: as a threshold space between inside and outside, it connects the realms of art and the city. The glass cube is both sculpture and architecture, offering a “safe space” within the seemingly unsafe environment of the Gürtel. With her installation The Happy Medium, the artist Francesca Aldegani refers to these functions of the space and transforms it into an oversized, transparent shrine. The title plays on the multiple meanings of the term “medium,” ranging from a spiritual transmitter of messages to an artistic medium that conveys content. Francesca Aldegani understands it as an invitation to focus on the positive and connective aspects of communication and exchange with others. – The project, curated by Georgia Holz, is a cooperation between KÖR Wien and the Vienna Women’s Service (MA 57).

The Happy Medium is a fragile monument made from ephemeral materials, dedicated to all women. It addresses female qualities that usually do not find a place in public space, but now become visible within the “protection” of the Kubus EXPORT. Elements that appear archaic and evoke a totem are staged by the artist with humor, reminiscent of a tripartite Christian devotional image. At the center hangs a horned totem figure made of textile, wood, and copper—a kind of protective spirit that looks in two directions. The figure is flanked by two banners bearing the inscriptions “Unable to Say No” and “Able to Say Yes.”

The artist, who engages with the animacy of nature and objects, as well as with ecology and feminism, has chosen the materials with care: copper, coarse linen, and branches are strongly associated with women—whether in terms of their materiality or in the ways they have been produced or used by society, both historically and today. The materials stand in for women’s knowledge, their sociopolitical living conditions, and their perspectives on the world. The 100-year-old homespun linen and the contemporary African textiles, for example, emerged through time-intensive artisanal and industrial processes that are mostly carried out by women. According to Aldegani, the materials are literally activated and transformed through these activities; conversely, the materials themselves influence those who work with them. The Happy Medium also speaks of these material cycles that connect human and non-human actors.