Gallery portrait
Ebensperger

by Christian Ganzenberg

Whenever there is an appetite for adventure and new spaces become available, Patrick Ebensperger conceives extremely versatile and precise presentations in unusual locations. They are not mere “white cubes.” Besides the current Berlin branch at the Fichtebunker, past gallery presentations have been held in a former crematorium, a Greek tavern, an industrial building, a local pub, and a long-established hotel. It is hardly necessary for the gallery to participate in elaborate art fairs, although it occasionally does—and then to striking effect. The gallerist prefers to be on the road with his Trunk Shows, creating contemporary salon exhibitions to be closer to the gallery’s fans. This was the case, for example, with the playfully tongue-in-cheek exhibition series Neulich an der Salzach and Neulich in Hernals(Vienna’s 17th district), each of which was shaped by the character of its venue.

The gallery’s history began in a five-by-five-meter room in Graz’s historic center; this location was followed by an apartment in one of the city’s townhouses, which to this day operates as a gallery showcase. Being distant from the Vienna and Berlin art scenes, Patrick Ebensperger was able to approach his work at the gallery in a rather unconventional and uncompromising way. An appetite for confrontation is still a hallmark of the gallery today, which has undertaken the task of “exploring art’s potential for action,” for political possibilities that can be experienced in terms of space and content. It is therefore not surprising that thematic exhibitions often juxtapose the represented artists with performative legacies—such as those of John Bock or Otto Muehl, with whose estate Ebensperger works closely. The gallery organizes equally astonishing, unconventional solo exhibitions, including those of film-maker Romuald Karmakar and theater-maker Marta Górnicka. For both, these were not only their first solo exhibitions but also their first exhibitions in a gallery. In these shows, as well as in presentations by Benjamin Heisenberg, Heiner Franzen, and Bjørn Melhus, Ebensperger showcases what “expanded cinema” can be in an art context, that is, a cinematic art that unfolds into space and needs to be physically grasped.

By the way: the logo is a found object. Curator Sebastian Hoffmann came across it in the Salzburg tavern mentioned above, and simply set it up afterwards. This is a lesson for us to keep our eyes peeled and listen to the space around us, because “art shouldn’t have to adapt to a building. Rather, spaces should provide art with new possibilities.”