GPC Talks (#6): Image Strategies on Space and Climate
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A Conversation between Beate Gütschow and Simona Obholzer
What kinds of landscape images do we encounter in 2026 in the context of the climate catastrophe?
To what extent are images still capable of raising awareness of the current state of the environment and making the complex interrelations of the climate crisis perceptible?
This also raises the question of whether and how visual representations can not only document but also intervene: Can they open up new perspectives, generate empathy, and contribute to a critically reflective engagement with nature, resources, and power relations?
Starting from two bodies of work by Beate Gütschow, the “HC Series” (Hortus Conclusus) and “Resistance, Flood, Fire, Resistance,” which addresses the consequences of climate change, as well as filmic works by Simona Obholzer, including “DIN 18035” and the video work “Park,” the speakers discuss the conceptual and processual foundations of their artistic practices.
Using key terms such as landscape and power, ecology, and software, they reflect on the complex conditions of their work in the context of ongoing ecological and societal transformations. The conversation is structured into two chapters, each based on an artistic work by one of the speakers, serving as a point of departure for an in-depth discussion.
In resonance with the conversation, Adina Camhy composed a jingle and additional sound elements that structure and accompany the piece acoustically.
Language: German
Duration: 39 min. 52 sec.
Funded by the BMWKMS and the SKE Fund of Austro Mechana
Biographies
BEATE GÜTSCHOW
Beate Gütschow, born in 1970, studied at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HFBK) and at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts in Norway. She is currently Professor of Artistic Photography at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.
Her works are developed in distinct bodies of work, from which six cycles have emerged to date.
A book on the series “Resistance, Flood, Fire, Resistance” was recently published by Spector Books. The photographic series “Resistance, Flood, Fire, Resistance” has been shown, among other venues, at Foto Arsenal Vienna and the Akademie der Künste Berlin.
Since 2019, Beate Gütschow has been actively involved in the climate justice movement.
SIMONA OBHOLZER
Simona Obholzer, born in 1982 in Tyrol, lives and works as a visual artist and filmmaker in Vienna. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, previously attended the School of Artistic Photography under Friedl Kubelka, and completed a study stay at the Glasgow School of Art.
In her artistic practice, she combines image- and perception-theoretical questions with experimental forms of the moving image as well as serial graphic works.
Her video work “DIN 18035” has been shown at international festivals and received awards including at the Diagonale and the West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival.
The video work “Park” was presented in spring 2025 at Kunsthaus Graz as part of the solo exhibition “Pleasant to the Eye, Soft for the Feet.”
ADINA CAMHY
Adina Camhy works interdisciplinarily as an artist, filmmaker, and musician. In her film and sound works, she combines research and remix methods. Her musical practice—situated between noise, ambient, drone, industrial, field recordings, and improvisation—feeds into performances, films, and radio pieces, and has been featured at festivals such as the Wiener Festwochen, Impulstanz, and the Berlinale. She performs both solo and in collaborations within Austria’s underground scene.