EXHIBITIONS AND PERFORMANCES

In the exhi­bi­tion “Ill­ness Is Not a Lux­u­ry”, Matthias Moll­ner explores the social and exis­ten­tial chal­lenges posed by severe, chron­ic ill­ness­es such as ME/CFS and Long COVID. Through his pho­tographs, col­lages, objects and videos, the artist exam­ines the lives of those affect­ed and their car­ers, and explores why these peo­ple often receive lit­tle or no sup­port from the med­ical and social wel­fare systems.

ME/CFS, post-COVID syn­drome and their asso­ci­at­ed con­di­tions have dev­as­tat­ing effects on both the indi­vid­u­als affect­ed and on soci­ety. Tens of thou­sands of peo­ple with this con­di­tion in Aus­tria alone are sub­ject­ed to immense suf­fer­ing, which in some cas­es can lead to sui­cide. Mollner’s part­ner also died in 2024 after sev­er­al years of being bedrid­den with ME/CFS and asso­ci­at­ed conditions.

In the exhi­bi­tion, the artist approach­es the sub­ject from a per­son­al per­spec­tive and, through his works, reflects on the strengths of these peo­ple in their dai­ly strug­gle for sur­vival with their ill­ness­es and in their fight against a social sys­tem that often acts in an inhu­mane manner.

As part of the exhi­bi­tion open­ing, there will be a pre­sen­ta­tion of two new pub­li­ca­tions on ME/CFS and Long COVID. “Fight­ers in the Crash Zone” by Matthias Moll­ner por­trays 18 suf­fer­ers and their car­ers through pho­tographs and inter­views. Moni­ka Pietrzak-Franger’s cat­a­logue “Seem­ing­ly Recov­ered: Liv­ing with Long Covid and the Right to Hope” fea­tures suf­fer­ers who have not regained their health fol­low­ing a Covid infec­tion. The pre­sen­ta­tion will be fol­lowed by a dis­cus­sion with the audience.