Lichtpausen, lückenhaft is an exhibition that presents two artists – Gina Klaber Thusek (1900-1983) and Elisabeth Hölzl (*1962) – in interlocking retrospectives.

The two met in Meran in the early 1970s: Thusek was at the time a mature artist who had been through two world wars, been confined to Meran and spent 16 years as a stateless person. Hölzl was a young girl, just at the beginning of her artistic career. Although the two artists belonged to different generations and were shaped by utterly different life circumstances, there exists a surprisingly large number of references between their works.

Their first encounter in 1973 has now – almost 50 years later – led to a new encounter: Gina Thusek’s estate held in the archives of Meran’s Palais Mamming, has become a moment of remembrance and an inspiration for Elisabeth Hölzl, whose multifaceted works, together with Thusek’s ouevre, reveal a new, expansive dimension in this exhibition. The show thus goes beyond that of a double exhibition to become, through the interweaving of the works of both artists, a new whole.

Lichtpausen, lückenhaft tells of the richly layered points of contact between the two: Thusek’s work, gradually brought into the light, has in recent months prompted Elisabeth Hölzl to see some of her own work anew, to sift through her early work and permit new works to enter into dialogue with those of Thusek. The individual sections of the exhibition accordingly trace themes and life situations that have played an important role in the work of both artists. Love, longing, desire; photography as a narrative method and an expression of introspection; new paths in sculpture or a strong affinity with textiles – these are just some of the facets shown.