Katharina Wimmer (*2002) is currently studying Fine Arts in Linz. She previously attended the HTL Salzburg with a focus on multimedia and graphics.

futuro anteriore, 2024/2025

A tower made of coal briquettes that is both a monument and a ruin. Engraved on it is a quote from the Futurist Manifesto of 1909, which celebrates absolute speed: “IL TEMPO E LO SPAZIO MORIRONO IERI. NOI VIVIAMO GIÀ NELL' ASSOLUTO. ABBIAMO CREATO L'ETERNA VELOCITA ONNIPRESENTE.” (Eng.: “Time and space died yesterday. We live in the absolute. We have created the all-encompassing, endless speed").

The work questions the belief in progress and the production imperatives of modernity - both as a material legacy and as an ideological consequence. Futurism, Italy's first avant-garde movement, once fascinated by technology, dynamism and efficiency, was closely linked to the spirit of fascism. The sculptural object is complemented by a series of photographs that resemble nocturnal satellite images and whose textured surface is reminiscent of coal briquettes.

The light box is also used by the artist. A broken, unspecific dialog shines out of it, a mixture of hidden feelings and constraints of subjects under the pressure of production. With electrification and the invention of the light bulb, production was decoupled from natural cycles - artificial light allowed uninterrupted value creation. It symbolizes a technical way of thinking that elevates efficiency to the highest principle. The light in the light box remains permanently switched on - an irreversible act that makes the logic of progress visible: repetition as enlightenment, as a permanent companion in the sign of always more.

Jury Statement:
Power of Change: Artistic Visions for a Fossil-Free World was the theme of this year’s call – the project idea futuro anteriore by Katharina Wimmer, which explores rupture, continuity, and the consequences of progress, convinced the jury unanimously.
futuro anteriore presents a tower of coal that serves not only as a symbol, but as a profound reflection on the material and politico-economic dimensions of societal production. The tower, made of stacked coal briquettes and reminiscent of a factory chimney, bears an engraved quote from the Futurist Manifesto of 1909: “NOI ABBIAMO CREATO L’ETERNA VELOCITA ONNIPRESENTE” (Eng.: “We have created the eternal, omnipresent speed”). This quote intensifies the critical engagement with the imperative of acceleration and progress for the sake of production.
The Futurist Manifesto, written by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, propagated the glorification of speed, technology, and industrial development. It emphasized a break with the past and the rejection of traditional values in favor of a dynamic, modern sense of life.
Her work raises the question of how the principles of Futurism – such as the worship of machines, speed, and the willingness to destroy old structures in favor of a radically new understanding of progress – can be interpreted and understood today. futuro anteriore challenges us to reflect on the ethical and ecological consequences of such progress and our role in the ongoing history of human production.
Through her work, Katharina Wimmer succeeds in evoking a memory of the materiality and the historical as well as future implications of progress. The coal tower stands as both a memorial and a monument, without offering simple answers.

Jury: Gitti Vasicek (Vice-Rector Kunstuniversität Linz), Gabriele Spindler (Head of Art and Cultural Studies OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH), Frank Louis (Artist, Professor at Kunstuniversität Linz), Maria Venzl (Curator, OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH), and Reinhard Gattinger (Art Representative of Energie AG Oberösterreich).