Special exhibition “United in Diversity” at the Hofmobiliendepot

 

In cooperation with the Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H and architects of Ebner Hasenauer Ferenczy ZT GmbH a special exhibition will be shown at the Hofmobiliendepot. For the first time, costumes and accessories from this year’s Style Bible as well as some selected exhibits from past productions will be shown. The exhibition can be seen from May 17 to September 15, 2019.

 

At this year’s Life Ball, everything revolved around the fight for equal treatment and reminded us of the beginnings of the now legendary ball. When 50 years ago at New York’s Stonewall Inn, homosexuals and lesbians first rebelled vehemently against the police harassment, the path to visibility was chosen, the rainbow flag its obvious symbol. The Life Ball, too, took a similar stony path to the LGBT movement and always saw itself as a place of visualization of people and concerns that a society seeks to stigmatize. This year’s Life Ball embarked on a journey across the rainbow and lands with a wandering circus troupe in a fantastic world of colors. Along the way, more and more bizarre characters came together, all in their own way “freaks”, each in search of a home, heart, mind and courage.

In this spectrum move also the costumes, which are shown in this exhibition. On the one hand in the world of the circus, on the other hand in the colorful world of colors. Some of the costumes were designed in the Life Ball studio with the help of pupils of Herbststrasse, and some are provided by ART for ART. For the colorful costumes of the Life Ball ambassadors – well-known international personalities such as Dita Von Teese, Alan Cumming or Cynthia Nixon – responsible for the first time was Patricia Field, which is known for the features and the extraordinary look of Sex and the City.

The concept of the exhibition is to introduce the viewer to the costumes of this year’s Life Ball through stark contrasts, similar to a darkened panopticon. For this purpose, the showroom was divided in length – in a black and a white half. The two halves not only stand for “light and dark” or “inside and out”, but are also intended to show the still-lived separatism in our society.

Join us one last time on our journey over the rainbow.

Photo: (c) Dieter Nagl