Lookout: Katharina Cibulka Installation

NMWA’s "Lookout" project presents commanding artworks across the scaffolding that surrounds the museum during its building renovation. Its second installation, "Lookout: Katharina Cibulka," invites viewers to share their ideals and contemplate what equality looks like to them.

Austrian artist Katharina Cibulka covers NMWA’s north-facing façade with one of her monumental “SOLANGE” (German for “as long as”) works, a series that addresses gender-based inequity and social power structures. In vivid pink tulle on white mesh fabric, Cibulka and her team cross-stitch poetic and witty declarations, such as “As long as the art market is a boys’ club, I will be a feminist,” “As long as he makes the cash while I work for change, I will be a feminist,” and “As long as women’s power is an underrated energy source, I will be a feminist.” For more information, explore the SOLANGE website.

For each of Cibulka’s site-specific “SOLANGE” works, the artist considers the local environment and community while developing the phrase for that location. She seeks public input to understand the concerns of community members and neighbors. Previous statements have addressed topics such as income inequality, family structures, abuse of power, and the art world. Cibulka and her team developed a sentence for NMWA that spotlights marginalized groups who must repeatedly, across generations, demand equal rights: “As long as generations change but our struggles stay the same, I will be a feminist.”

Through "Lookout," NMWA continues to champion women through the arts, while also signaling the powerful transformation underway within the building. "Lookout: Katharina Cibulka" is the artist’s first installation in the United States.