“It will be fine” is a phrase often uttered in times of uncertainty. It offers comfort and promises that things will work out. At the same time, it can be an expression of the desire to keep unpleasantness at bay—a reassurance in the face of what lies beyond our control.
The works in this exhibition navigate this tension. Created over several years, they are based on the principle of collage: images, forms, and fragments are detached from their original contexts and reassembled. The existing is not accepted as a given, but rather questioned, dismantled, and transformed into new relationships. In this context, the collage is more than an artistic technique. It becomes a model for how we continually shape ourselves and our surroundings.
In doing so, Iris Weigel touches on questions that extend far beyond the exhibition space. Identities, beliefs, relationships, and social orders often appear to be stable constructs, yet they are never fixed. In a present where ecological, political, and social crises are shaking many certainties to their core, the collage-like approach itself becomes a strategy for dealing with complexity and change. The works speak to a willingness to let go of the familiar and embrace change—even when it involves uncertainty, loss, or pain. At the same time, they do not focus on simple solutions, but rather on the possibilities for action within uncertainty. The collages allow seemingly contradictory elements to coexist without hastily resolving them. As familiar structures break down, new perspectives and unexpected connections emerge. Order and chaos do not appear as opposites, but as forces within whose tension new avenues for action open up.
“It will be fine” is therefore less of a promise than an attitude. Not everything is within our control. But where we can exert influence, we have the opportunity to help shape change. The collage thus becomes an invitation to embrace the unfinished and to recognize our own scope for action in the process of becoming.
Iris Weigel
In her artistic practice, Iris Weigel combines material, space, and text to create transmedia compositions. Her working process is characterized by a collage-like approach: fragments of everyday life are collected, removed from their original contexts, and placed in new relationships. This gives rise to constellations that shift familiar orders and interrogate perception, memory, and social realities in equal measure. Iris Weigel studied at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design and lives and works in Vienna.
