The Matter of Art Biennale was founded in 2020 with the aim of exploring whether and how it is possible to implement large-scale exhibition projects as political and institutional interventions. The first two editions, held in 2020 and 2022, have helped make the biennale a space for voices and perspectives that are not often present or go unnoticed in mainstream public discourse, even though they can teach lessons about resilience and solidarity. The Biennale continues this line in the current edition, highlighting acts of resistance as a source of hope.

Katalin Erdody and Alexey Borisyonok are interested in rural change as social change, and the legacies and futures of labor movements, to focus on forgotten histories of social unrest and underrepresented micro-histories of socio-political transformation in Central and Eastern Europe. Europe and beyond. By bringing together diverse artistic works and discursive interventions, the curators seek resonance between historical struggles and the contemporary moment. Working through the idea of ​​grafting, borrowed from agriculture and medicine, The Matter of Art creates connections between social movements in changing rural and urban contexts, drawing attention to how the concepts of labor and worker take on new meanings. The Matter of Art Biennale marks the first collaboration between Erdedy and Borisyonok, who both live in Vienna.

"The unfolding global crisis stretches from the extractive work of bodies and algorithms to the depletion of living conditions on our planet. So we ask what can be learned from the history of labor movements. Labor unrest, both failed and successful, can illuminate the present moment and the possible future of solidarity." political organization and justice,” says curator and writer Alexey Borisenok. He has written for various magazines and publications and curated exhibitions on education and unschooling, labor movements and strikes, social movements and artistic practices in Vilnius, Kyiv, Stockholm, Vienna and Minsk.

“Rural areas provide our basic needs, from food to a variety of resources and raw materials, making the lives of rural and urban residents deeply entangled and interdependent. However, the voices of people living and working in rural areas are often absent from public discourse. Me is interested in what we can learn from the countryside: how can we move beyond cultural stereotypes that tend to view the countryside as politically backward and passive, and recognize its political potential?” asks curator and playwright Katalin Erdody. Since 2017, Erdődy has been exploring rural change using concrete, participatory artistic and curatorial approaches, working in various rural contexts in Hungary, Germany and Spain.