Leonhard Müllner + Total Refusal | Artists in Residence | Kamov Residency

Leonhard Müllner + Total Refusal

→ https://totalrefusal.com/

Born in Graz in 1987, Leonhard Müllner currently works as a visual artist and media researcher in Vienna. He studied Experimental Design in Linz, Video and Video Installation in Leipzig, Video Art in Vienna, and completed his PhD 2023 in Game Art/Game Studies, under the guidance of Professor Helmut Lethen. In 2018, he co-founded the pseudomarxist media collective Total Refusal, garnering over 50 awards, including the European Film Award and the Best Short Direction Award at the Locarno Film Festival.

Total Refusal is a collective of artists, researchers, and filmmakers who upcycle the resources of mainstream video games to create political narratives in the form of videos, interventions, performances, and lectures. Total Refusals’ work has been screened at over 250 film- and art festivals – such as Berlinale, Doc Fortnight at MOMA New York, and the Locarno Film Festival – and has been exhibited at various exhibition spaces like the Architecture Biennial Venice 2021, the HEK Basel and the Ars Electronica Linz.

06.-31.07.2024.

In the second half of the residency, Leonhard Müllner is working on developing his collective's feature film, ‘Money is a Form of Speech’. In several working enclosures, he and his colleagues will take their first steps in in-game photogrammetry in the video game 'Division 2' and develop the image and sound concepts for two chapters. The first feature-length film by the collective Total Refusal, of which Müllner is a member, illuminates the problematic and contradictory relationship between capitalism and democracy in an in-game lecture ballet. The setting of the shooter 'Division 2' takes place in an apocalyptic version of Washington, DC.

 The residency is supported by the Cultural Department of the Styrian Regional Government.

Museum of modern and contemporary art

→ www.mmsu.hr

Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka (HR) - MMSU

MMSU in Rijeka founded in 1948, in its long tradition offers a committed support to innovative ways of approaching, producing and presenting art. From its very beginning the Museum has been building reputation of one of the most prominent visual art institutions in Croatia, entrusted with presentation of Croatian artists at prestigious international art events such as: Venice Biennial 1962, 1997, 2007, 2010, Sao Paolo Biennial 1967, 2004 etc. 

The Museum rounds its programming around visual art education, parallel to different modes of exhibition concepts that address new discursive possibilities and transform it into a place of inspiration, idea exchange and active participation. Under the motto openness, creativity & engagement, together with artistic, cultural and community organizations, Museum furthers visual arts research, collaboration and exchange within the region and internationally, while aspiring to reach increasingly diverse audiences and to work in a close relationship with the community.

Museum’s collection offers a diverse range of artistic visions with over 8,000 artworks dated from the end of the 19^th century to the present day. From 2017 Museum is located at new address, Krešimirova 26c, in ex-industrial complex Rikard Benčić. Since then, some important exhibitions were organized at MMSU in the framework of the pre-program and program of Rijeka 2020 - European Capital of Culture, i.e. Tomislav Gotovac: Crisis Anticipator - Don't Ask Where We're Going (2017), Vlado Martek: Exhibition with Many Titles and Goran Petercol: Don't Worry About Poetics, They Will Arrive on Their Own in 2019 and David Maljković: With the Collection in 2020..