Artists

Chicks on speed

Press release

Alex Murray-Leslie and Melissa E. Logan take part in a painting competition in 1995 as students at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich: one paints, the other writes slogans and creates collages. Together they give themselves a name and found a performance art collective: Chicks on Speed.

By the turn of the millennium, the collective had developed its own artistic practice, drawing on influences from radical 20th-century art movements such as Dada, Fluxus, Situationism, and queer feminism, and reaching far beyond the disciplinary boundaries that were common at the time. Their first project, the legendary “Seppi Bar” – inspired by Zurich’s Cabaret Voltaire – led them, in collaboration with the techno club Ultraschall and with DJs and producers from the electronic music scenes in Munich and Vienna, to develop their first sound collages.

The exhibition takes a journey through almost 30 years of Chicks on Speed’s work. The curators and core members of the collective for this exhibition are Kathi Glas, Tina Frank, Leslie Johnson, and Alex Murray-Leslie. Other contributors include, among others, Anat Ben-David – a long-standing member and formative artist in Chicks on Speed films, performances, and music – Sophia Efstathiou, Christopher Just, Jeremiah Day, Alina Belyagina, Serge von Arx, Kangela Tromokratisch, Unnur Andrea Einarsdóttir, Wolf-Dieter Grabner, Gerhard Potuznik, Ramon Bauer, A.L. Steiner, Douglas Gordon, Kai Knappe, UKRAiNATV, Roman Dziadkiewicz, and Alex Posada.

“Utopia” presents a piece of contemporary history – alongside the release of the new album HEAR&NOWTopia and the box set HEARtopia (Gronland Records, October 17). Since their founding, Chicks on Speed have initiated technological art projects such as their archive OBJEKTINSTRUMENTS, their own record label, and other curatorial initiatives. In addition, they have produced music, paintings, sculptures, collages, films, textile designs, critical costumes, body art, performances, artistic research, and educational workshops.

Curated by Xabier Arakistain & Chicks On Speed (Alex Murray-Leslie, Kathi Glas, Tina Frank & Leslie Johnson)
An exhibition by Museum VILLA STUCK.