In her first solo exhibition in Vienna, she exposes the political structures of everyday culture and pop culture. Two multimedia video installations interpret the environment as both analog and cinematic space. Hell Yeah We Fuck Die (2016) and Mechanical Kurds (2025) examine the influence of militarization on civil society, analyzing language as a tool, technological developments, and Realpolitik scenarios in robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The potential of the collective is immanent. 

These issues are woven into Hito Steyerl’s entire oeuvre as she records the ruptures and contradictions of contemporary social and technological developments and political mappings. For many years she has been drawing attention to the impact of conflict and war on the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. The title of the MAK exhibition, Der Menschheit ist die Kugel bei einem Ohr hinein und beim anderen herausgeflogen [Humanity Had the Bullet Go In Through One Ear and Out Through the Other] reads like a commentary on contemporary history—it is a quotation from Karl Kraus (1874–1936), the Viennese satirist, cultural critic, and observer of the political scene.  

CURATOR:
Bärbel Vischer, Curator, MAK Contemporary Art Collection

Free admission to the opening + artist talk

Kindly supported by
ART MENTOR FOUNDATION LUCERNE