Around this time last year, Dr. Ayesha Khan published an article about decolonizing hope that had a profound effect on me. In the text entitled “How do we keep hope alive in our movements?”, Khan discusses the contradictions of hope but mainly the difference between the hopefulness of a freedom fighter and the hopelessness caused by individualism and colonial values in the West.

Since last October, the growing instrumentalization of anti-Semitism by Zionist groups around the world, including those who identify with feminisms and the anti-fascist movement, is notorious.

Catching up with Anna Menecia Antenete Hambira—Vienna-based freelance fashion designer, artist and creative director and author of the interdisciplinary fashion project amaaena that combines sustainability, contemporary fashion and socio-political responsibility.

In the West, institutions, especially those relating to arts and culture, have been challenged to end their exclusionary practices and introduce “diversity” to their institutions. Depending on the locality of the institution, differing forms of diversity ranging from gender, race, socio-economic class, migration background, language, age, etc., have been demanded by those who’ve been traditionally excluded, especially from larger institutions.

Dear Belvedere 21,


Can you please tell us 

how you removed the line 

“Firas from Palestine and
Ali from Lebanon”?


I wonder how many interpretations the phrase “Foreigners Everywhere” can have beyond the grand art event, its connections to commercial transfers, the critical nuances of global contemporary art, and the pretensions of reconstituting a Pangea without borders.

I’m an undiagnosed autistic person, and this is a very wondrous place to be. It’s a place where you don’t yet have the official approval stamp of a mental health institution—and, in many cases—know more about autism than most mental health professionals.

For nearly one thousand years, man believed that space was a vacuum where nothing could survive the cold, airless environment. Only in the year 3287 AEM (after our Lord Elon Musk’s death) did the scientists of the oldest space colony, Neptune, find evidence that this entire time, space was, in fact, a thriving and writhing environment.

Erika and I met on a cold evening at my apartment, sharing tea while my (borrowed) cats wandered around us. We first crossed paths years ago in the music scene and, over time, found our way back to each other through the art world. This interview felt like a natural opportunity to catch up and dive into her current projects and creative process.

Memory is a flood, writes Ocean Vuong.[1] It is something we cannot easily control as it is already controlled by different triggers. Except in cases when our memory blocks some, usually traumatic, experiences, everything else can surge at certain moments.

On a Wednesday in June, it was hot, but not too hot. On that day, I made a performance called Ludd Lives! A Popular Trial on Technology. This is a comic about that performance.

My family says that the first word I understood was “hot”. I was two years old and my grandmother pointed to the kitchen stove in her centrally heated Gemeindebau apartment in Vienna, warning me not to touch it because of the heat. I walked over to the living room radiator, touched it and said, “Hot.”

More and more departing from the conservative understanding of mental health (issues), we entered this year the terrain of neurodiversity…

Get a taste of the conversations with our guests, Magdalena Strauch, Hristina Hristova & Morgan Glew and Niklas Satanik…

In my Maturazeitung, it stated that I was adaptable and would rarely say if something didn't suit me. Fifteen years later, it still annoys me…

My journey to becoming an anti-racism-focused artist, activist and (so-called educator) has been an interesting one…

The stylistic spectrum of XING ranges between melancholic melodies, hip-hop elements, influences from R&B and a large amount of soul…

Black Box—a school story by Pedro del Real Lavergne.

Raven and Phan is an Austro-Turkish duo wreaking havoc in post-club and art-pop music…

At the time I decide to write this text I am reading “Tools for Conviviality”[1] and “Deschooling Society”[2] by Ivan Illich (Vienna, 1926 – Bremen, 2002)…

Dear 2023, let us hover for a bit in the transformative space between the dying old and emerging new reality…

Symbiocene accelerated: the reverse of the Capitalocene at hundreds of terrestrial translations.

Poorly drawn lemon and a tie: a philosophical exploration.

This time of the year brings up the topic of family and traditions (and family traditions) more than any other season…

A new green revolution started in the spring of 2022 with the new old slogan “Stop to Lithium'' and “Stop to Rio Tinto” only two months before a new presidential election in Serbia…

The second installment of poorly drawn lemon brings us hardcore societal critique.

New Year–New Me, new life, resolutions, instant solutions to issues whose foundations might have been building in us for generations–January carries the burden of bringing it all immediately.

We forget with every new cycle that the beginning of the calendar year is out of alignment with Nature's rhythms and that for a few more weeks, it offers us a space for surrender instead of providing yet the right environment to plant new seeds.

I know that Madame Psychosis was actually a living person in the 70s somewhere in San Francisco on the streets. The name comes from a book; I don’t know the title of the book, it was dug out by a friend and I was really happy to actually bring Madame Psychosis back to life in Vienna because I didn’t want to bury Madame Psychosis again in the darkness of Denmark.

We create spaces, places, universes, alone or with others; that is something I deeply believe to be true. Do we love it? It depends on how much we want to use our creative control and how much we are open to receiving. People are often afraid of beauty and freedom. Beauty because it is not going to last forever, and freedom because it comes with responsibility and it's often a one-way ticket.

What happens to the User when social media starts clustering us through likes and not through our social connections? We might be entering a new Digital Era, where the social aspect of our tangible life slowly vanishes.

Places we love exist only in us is the opening sentence in a poem by Ivan V. Lalic. This video series is a project where I ask different people to tell their stories about belonging. Every episode contains 3 art workers of younger generations having creative control over how they want to be filmed, where, and what they want to speak about.

In this episode, you will see Ale Zapata, Christos Kyritopoulos-Ninas, and Els Van Houtert trying to share their thoughts and build a mirror for collective self-reflection. Dejan Klement 2021.

Yes, Another Fucking Lockdown Edition. But as it is also the last edition of the year, let's balance the scales with a bit of gratitude because, first of all, the whole concept of Improper Dose was born out of lockdown, and I'm very grateful for that—the Dose, not the pandemic of course.

Harz is the aural love child of Bernd Ammann and Niklers Satanik from western Austria. Founded in 2018 by the studied musicians they began to create soundscapes based on rhythmic patterns, using bass, synth, zither, hang drum and various percussions. Meditative as well as danceable, Harz’ music evokes in-between states of flux within the listeners mind, dulling the senses for outer/worldly influences and stimulating the inner cinematic theatre.

JUNGLE JADE delves into the fluctuating mental states that come with trying to create roots in a new space. Crossing paths as fresh arrivals in Vienna, singer- songwriter Yelvilaa (from Ghana & Hong Kong) and guitarist Shari (from Iran) quickly became good friends and collaborators, forming the project as a way to process their experiences.

Facebook's "Meta" offers a second digitally integrated life to its users. However, we already have a Second Life. Is Mark Zuckerberg just trying to implement a teenage fantasy into all of us?

Besides the strange dreams, there really was no indication for Nathan to send himself bizarre one sentence messages and he did not have a roommate, so this couldn’t be a prank. Additionally, if he really was sleep-walking last night, wouldn’t he have sent himself messages about Carol Baskins feeding her husband to the tigers? It didn’t make sense.

In the second episode of Places we love, you will get to see Aurianne Chevandier, Justina Špeirokaitė, and Márton Zalka adding their thoughts to Dejan Klement's mirror for collective self-reflection.

Choose your battles, I mean luxuries, wisely, and maybe one day we will meet in a world where our worth is not measured by material things, social status, or how precisely we follow another man's traditions.

In this issue of his adventures and reflections on the good old Internet, Pedro wonders: is it time to make webcams grainy again?

She was ecstatic when she was offered this job. Finally, a position that completely aligned with her values as a human rights protector. Her years of unpaid work had finally been compensated. At last, the emptiness, the gaping vacuum, that she would feel at the centre of her chest most nights before dozing off to sleep, would be filled. A rewarding job! What more could she want?

Places we love exist only in us is the opening sentence in a poem by Ivan V. Lalic. This video series is a project where I ask different people to tell their stories about belonging. Every episode contains 3 art workers of younger generations having creative control over how they want to be filmed, where, and what they want to speak about. In this episode, you will see Miloš Vučićević, Kata Martincsák, and Eugénie Desmedt trying to share their thoughts and build a mirror for collective self-reflection.

Finally, summer! Windows closed, curtains closed, hiding in the darkest corner of my room to preserve the last bits of sanity. Trying to cool down in this heat seems to be as efficient as explaining to people that being skinny is not always a choice. As being not skinny is not always a choice either. A conversation that comes up more regularly during the summer break – aka body-shamers paradise, or anytime during the doctor's appointment.

“In my opinion, empathy is an infinitely complex topic. if you deal with it, you immediately come up against hard pro and con positions. I was particularly interested in the question of how empathy affects socio-political courses and social interaction. This topic is also the basis of my new collection. In the implementation of the cooperation, however, I wanted to move away from the hard political space and travel to a warm place that is characterized by empathy at eye level.”

MSN Messenger was an IM platform with more than 300 millions users at its high point. Many social innovations and phenomena can be linked to the program, however Pedro focuses here on one: intimacy.

Contrary to what politicians and mainstream media might tell us, the arts are essential; particularly in times like these that are brimming with fear and division. […] Seeing an act of creative expression is seeing the essence of someone’s being and reminds us of our own. Support the things that remind us of our shared humanity and expansiveness. Support the arts!

Finally, reopening!

Yes, at the beginning of this month, we too were allowed to open our doors again, just in time to have at least a soft opening of our collaborative group show Shame Shouldn't Be A Symptom.

And while we embrace the joy of getting back to normal, we are also trying to keep in mind how privileged that "normal" is. At least, for some of us. Last month we said no shame, and indeed, there is no shame in being white or male or straight, cis-gender, or just an EU citizen living in a developed western European country. But an important note is there is also no pride in it.

Just after the infamous traditional family march, which took place a couple of weeks ago and during the hopeful excitement of passing a gender-neutral partnership law, artist Živilė Žvėrūna talks about how art reveals the morality of our society.

“My personal goal as an artist is to add another perspective to the discussion. There are plenty of scientific statements on schizophrenia and mental health which are important, but so are emotional and personal insights and experiences. This discussion has to take place in public for everyone to take part and art can be the stage for that.”

“Being surrounded with so much wealth and irrational consumerism everyday, living in one of the richest countries in the world, but also just the state of the world as we know it, has made me realize how to so many people it doesn't matter what they consume - as long as they consume it. Especially when it comes to fashion, the climate where trend hopping is most apparent.”

“In times like these it feels like there is a need for artists to address and draw attention to topics like climate care and migration. We would not say about ourselves that we create political art. This installation is the first work where we addressed a topic like climate care and it was not our very first intention. Also there are many more layers in this artwork than only this topic…”

Pedro pauses his reports on pages of the good old Internet to share an intimate memory and the recurrence of what he felt back then during his investigations.

“It is only once we are able to give our Shadow what it needs (ie: acknowledgement, acceptance, compassion, love) and no longer feel shame around it, that that we can accept ourselves as whole beings and move closer to being free from unhealthy and harmful behaviors…”

“Speaking in broad terms, most cultures do not embrace open discussions or portrayals of mental illness or taboo symptomology. At best, these conversations are seen as uncomfortable. At worst, they're ostracized or criminalized. Anything that carries a negative connotation is something we may be judged or shunned for.”

Finally, no shame!
But first, TRIGGER WARNING!

Despite having already touched on some sensitive topics in the past, this month’s edition goes a bit over our usual amount of “everything that’s wrong (and right and somewhere in between) with the world”.
Participating in Mental Health Awareness Month again, this issue speaks about (but not solely on) suicidal thoughts and suicide – an act that carries even heavier stigma than other symptoms.
As mental health is deeply interconnected with other social phenomena, one of our external contributors sheds more light on Femicide, the murder of women for the reason of being women.

For the mental health awareness month, Improper Walls, in collaboration with foundation Made of Millions, presents the international group exhibition “Shame Shouldn't be a Symptom”…

"In my understanding, art can and should be an offer to deal with oneself and one's own relation to the most diverse topics, and in the best case, stimulates an inner or interpersonal dialogue. In this sense, I believe that one possible task of art is to approach socio-cultural norms and taboos in a new way, through new language, and to question or criticise them."

Femicide, the “murder of women because they are women”, should be a highly debated concept due to the losses it involves. However, most of the Austrian public seems to be as unaware of the concept and its roots as the influencers we encountered before. “Most of the victims of manslaughter are still men!”, some may say in an attempt to debase the claim that femicides constitute a specific form of violence, and that this is a practice that only happens far away, in other countries, on other continents even. “It was only because he loved her so much!”, others might argue, or “I am sure that she provoked it!”, just falling short of “I am sure she deserved it!”

He picked me up while we were both riding the 1-train uptown. I had been forgotten by a girl who drank too many bottomless mimosas at a drag queen brunch somewhere in Hell’s Kitchen. Apparently, a friend of hers thought I would be a nice birthday gift but had not counted on the birthday girl blacking out on public transport and leaving me behind.

Chat rooms were anonymity paradises. Not without dangers, but is our current day of authenticity safer or better? The comic essay on the old Internet by @triquidick continues!

From Andrea Z Scharf's sketchbook, some personal thoughts on "Navigating Through Anxiety, 2021"

Become a part of participatory project “Kanye West doesn’t know what it’s like” by photographer and psychologist Patrycja Stala.

Last minute chance to experience April selection of Human Rights Film Hub curated by Martina Genetti.

Finally, daylight saving time! (Just kidding)

Yes, once again, we messed up our natural biorhythms to preserve the over 100-year-old attempt to make war cheaper; by losing an hour of sleep. Brilliant.

So, first, we excluded ourselves from the symbiotic wholeness of Earth’s ecosystem. Then, we created the monetary system; another tool for excluding each other from the new system. Then, we tried to make killing each other over that system cost less by saying it’s 7AM instead of 6AM.

I mean…truly, human kind deserves its place at the top of the food chain.

“I think that no matter how you look at it, all the topics in art are always under the big umbrella of "Human Rights", in other words, art is always about human rights, about free choices, about the relationship between law and duty.“

It’s spring ya’ll! Time to transmute that inner rage and winter depression into a raging against old, destructive, conformist ways that are no longer useful and make space for something radical and new to emerge.

I couldn’t help myself as I was placing her in her new vessel, I lightly brushed my fingers against her roots. Then I made the next move and intertwined my fingers a bit with her. I smiled as I already felt our bond growing. For a second I thought that I could feel her move a bit, was it a sigh of relief on her end? Were her roots tightening around my fingers? My reasoning told me that this wasn’t possible, and yet…

Fotolog was a very popular social media platform in Spain and Latin-America which disappeared from the Internet some years ago. Or did it somehow survive?
In this issue of “I run high on the New and I love the Old” we will meet librarian robots, mid-2000s emos and a business model that might have saved us from losing our self-determination.

“Our focus is on bringing together people who work in different disciplines and have a different perspective on Vienna’s art sector and its inclusivity. In most cases that means that we pair an artist who only recently arrived in Vienna as a migrant or refugee with an artist who has already been living in Vienna for a long time.”

“Our Vision is to create an archive of the art scene in Vienna, a verbal photo album. We believe that artists can learn so much from each other and it is important to give them a platform to share.”

Whether you call it winter blues or seasonal affective disorder, the end of February brings a promise that it’s finally over. Unless you have the opposite pattern of SAD and spring brings you into a downward spiral after months of calm. In that case, just know that you’re going to pull through and the world turns grey again soon. But if your well-being is more “being” than “well” no matter what the weather looks like, know that you’re doing great too! And when your brain gets confused about creating serotonin again, let alone how to keep it running long enough for you to notice, reach out!

My personal interest about the cultural scene in Russia and how it is influenced by politics, was growing for some time, especially after the last summer events in Belarus. And although Belarus and Russia are countries neighboring my home land Lithuania, I realise I know almost nothing about art and culture there.

Oscar Cueto was born in Mexico City, lives and works in Austria. His work elaborates exercises of writing narratives and reflects on the mechanisms that construct the notion of historicity, knowledge, memory and identity. Such themes are often developed as fictions and in recent work as installations in which the public can interact. His work is part of important collections such as Jumex in Mexico City, Vienna Museum, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and Museum of Latin American Art in Los Angeles. Since 2017 Cueto has been inviting curators and artists to Austria to collaborate on his nomadic project MUME/ Museo Mexicano.

For all the music lovers who feel a bit lost in these times of cancelled events - there is still time to dream, even if it’s a duck’s dream! Maybe concerts are part of a (hopefully not too) far off future, but new music still makes its way through to us. Besides the excitement of an upcoming gig you’ve waited for so long for, the thrill of listening to an album for the very first time is pretty much as tingly and delightful. For this reason, Improper Dose took the challenge to make an interview in English with the German band International Music and asked them to share a bit about their everyday life over the past year and the upcoming album Ententraum (transl.: a duckling's dream).

"I run high on the New and I love the Old" is a monthly comic exploring the Internet in its middle-ages, before the supremacy of Facebook but after Geocities. Pedro del Real (@triquidick) explores and reflects on different social media platforms, many having now disappeared, that played an important role in his teenage years.

I, meanwhile, do not have to go on a date during times of multiple Covid variants because I have commenced a torrid love affair with Roger, the peperomia argyreia plant sitting in my office. We’ve known each other for only a few months as he was an impulse buy off one of those Instagram ads, but I really feel that we have a connection like I’ve never had with anyone, or anything else.

Andrea Zapanta Scharf is a freelance illustrator and artist from New York City, currently based in Vienna, Austria. Her work is rooted in finding and expressing a playful spirit and radiating joy, beauty and humor through various forms including illustration, animation, mixed-media collage, product/surface design, paper sculpture, and more.

Asta Cink and Erika Farina expand their work and bring it to a new level by creating contact points between the textile surfaces and the analog images in a joint exhibition.

Our first merch photoshooting with gorgeous Aaron Scherer and Ted Green!