Artists: Yuki Okumura in conversation with Bettina Spörr

This episode was recorded on 7 March 2025 in the context of the exhibitions:

Yuki Okumura. Yuki Okumura
and
Big White Playground 
With Miriam Bachmann; Mario Batram; Paul Buschnegg; Said Gärtner; golden salamturtle; Grzegorz Kielawski; Emine Koza; Niklas Hofstetter; Yuki Okumura; Flavio Palasciano; Alex Pasch; Cristina Rüesch; Sebastian Scholz; Paul Spendier; Johanna Steiner; Lorenz Sutter; Kai Philip Trausenegger; Hans Weinberger; Marit Wolters; Márton Zalka 

The so-called white cube is a seemingly “neutral” and “pure” space with plain-white walls that is supposed to ensure the undisturbed autonomy of art. The Hauptraum, the largest gallery of Secession, is one of the earliest and most representative examples of it.

Like many artists who have exhibited here, Yuki Okumura took its empty state as a departure point for his working process. But instead of bringing works to this ideal backdrop to isolate art from the world, the artist conceived three site-specific projects to rediscover the space as a lived room interconnected with the world marked by its own conditions and contexts. For each project, Okumura designed a playful procedure and asked people related to the Hauptraum to enact it. More

A publication featuring an essay by James Gatt and a conversation with Yuki Okumura and Aaron Amar Bhamra & Monika Georgieva from the Vienna-based independent art space Laurenz accompanies the exhibition. download publication

The exhibitions are on view until 18 May, 2025.

Secession Podcast: Artists features artists exhibiting at the Secession.

The Dorotheum is the exclusive sponsor of the Secession Podcast.

Programmed by the board of the Secession.

Jingle: Hui Ye with an excerpt from Combat of dreams for string quartet and audio feed (2016, Christine Lavant Quartett) by Alexander J. Eberhard
Audio Editor: Paul Macheck
Executive Producer: Bettina Spörr