During this year’s Steirischer Herbst festival, the city of Graz was saturated with striking advertising designed by the Slovenian collective Grupa Ee. One banner featured a green, tapering rectangle on a yellow background—an abstract depiction of a rural idyll, with a “road” stretching toward the horizon. Two bold black words disrupted this pastoral scene: “Patriae” (homeland), closer to the viewer, appeared to “rest” on the road, while “Horror” loomed on the horizon, forming a foreboding gateway. The two modified o’s in “Horror” resembled ritualistic pagan pillars, flanking the road and supporting the menacing r’s. This visual composition suggested that “Patriae,” with its idyllic fields and sunshine, could also give rise to horror. It highlighted how the concept of homeland, seemingly inclusive, often operates through exclusion and demands ritualistic sacrifice. This unsettling dialectic served as the thematic backbone of the 2024 edition of Steirischer Herbst.
English
e-flux Notes, 20 December 2024
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