AVANTGARD/EN is the artist-in-residence programme of the Capital of Culture project PLATEAU BLO of the University of Art and Design Linz. In cooperation with the religious communities of Austria and the Diocese of Linz, the opening of the Carmelite convent garden in Gmunden after almost two centuries is undoubtedly an event.
Gardens are often intimate places that cannot be viewed by the public. The project contributes to making the garden a place for public dialogue, encounters, reflection and cultural exchange, bringing people from different backgrounds and perspectives together to negotiate the present.
Smirna Kulenović presented her artistic work OUR FAMILY GARDEN, a transdisciplinary art project that emphasises the role of women in the preservation of collective memories and deals with the restoration of border landscapes in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the war, as part of the Artist in Residence programme of the Space and Design Strategies department’s project Plateau Blo. In 2021, artist Smirna Kulenović gathered 100 women for a collective, site-specific ritual in Bosnia and Herzegovina and planted over 1000 marigolds in former trenches. In her transformative works with medicinal plants, she intertwines this place of her homeland with the monastery garden in Gmunden.
Opening hours every 1st Saturday of the month 12:00 to 18:00
As well as on request for groups of 5 or more at salzkammergut2024@dioezese-linz.at
