Lorenz Wanker, Trau dich grossartig zu sein at Galerie OK-KunZT, Klagenfurt

Trau dich grossartig zu sein by Lorenz Wanker, curated collaboratively by the artist and the venue owner, at Galerie OK-KunZT, Klagenfurt, 27/03/2025–31/08/2025.

Exhibition text:
With Trau dich grossartig zu sein (Dare to be great), Lorenz Wanker creates a space full of tension – between where we come from and where we’re heading, between tradition and modernity, between safety and uncertainty. At the center of the installation is a bus stop – a place that, especially in rural areas, often marks the only possible point of departure.

Two stops face each other: one solid and protective, the other bare and exposed. They don’t just represent different starting conditions – they also reflect the harshness of an uncertain journey. The floor of the installation preserves a fragment of history and identity. Wanker’s oversized, digitized tablecloth – originally hand-stitched in cross-stitching technique by his grandmother – becomes the monumental foundation of the piece. This traditional Carinthian embroidery embodies the structure and stability of inherited values – a neatly woven grid that offers support, but can also feel confining, a framework one might try to break free from. By translating it into digital form and producing it with industrial materials like plexiglass and metal, Wanker heightens this contrast.

The bus stop becomes a symbol of choice: Do we get on the bus? Where does the journey go? Is the bus even coming?

And if it is – do we dare to never look back? Wanker weaves his personal story into bigger, universal questions – questions that define a whole generation stuck between the familiar and the unknown, between stagnation and movement. With a bold call to action, he encourages us to take the leap: Dare to be great! Because real change takes courage – whether it’s leaving your hometown, searching for new perspectives, or reshaping the world itself.