Studio Offbeats 31.0: Kathrin Kloeckl Stan - New Territories - Die ZAD in dir
22.5.–31.5.2026
Kathrin Kloeckl Stan
In her series “New Territories. The ZAD Within You,” Kathrin Kloeckl Stan explores a form of deterritorialization inspired by the French protest movement known as the ZAD. The abbreviation ZAD stands for “Zone à défendre,” meaning “zone to be defended,” and refers to the activist practice of permanently occupying, protecting, and placing under self-administration areas (or zones) threatened by environmental destruction.
The ZAD, originally a utopian territorial experiment, becomes a spiritual principle in this series of works and is intended to spread into our minds, our bodies, and our immediate living environments.
Our autonomy, scope for action, and interpretive sovereignty over reality are increasingly subject to influence and restriction. It is essential, in an act of self-empowerment, to set boundaries, define our immaterial “zones to be defended,” and resist! The ZAD is within us! We are the ZAD!
Studio Offbeats was founded in the fall of 2023 by the Viennese artist and curator Alexander Felch. As part of the Studio Offbeats series, events in the fields of visual arts, performance, literature, and sound art are held.
The series showcases artists who present drafts and concepts of their artistic work at various stages of the creative process and open them up for discussion. Participating artists are offered a “safe space” where they can experiment with and discuss their work before presenting it in an institutional context.