curated by Franz Thalmair

Minda Andréns drawn and painted bodies are drawn from our collective visual memory: for instance from a massage book from the 1970s that the artist found at a flea market in Brazil, which, following a hippie-like ideal of freedom, depicts not only the massaged but also the massaging body naked; from internet forums on (not always) evidence-based 'somatic therapy', which promises relief from chronic stress and post-traumatic disorders as well as regulation of the nervous system with the aim of bringing body and mind into harmony and making them functional; from instructions for body exercises that turn ritualized movement sequences and breathing techniques from non-European contexts, furnished with narratives about their millennia-old tradition, into a spiritual experience, a Western experience; from (pseudo-)medical diagrams with titles like Bodymind, which grasp the human body using conceptual pairs such as 'disability and decay' and 'growth and empowerment', thereby continuously multiplying categorical intensifications; from pop-cultural memorabilia such as the scene in Juzo Itami's film Tampopo (1985), which stages the mouth-to-mouth exchange of a raw egg yolk as a choreography of intimacy, desire and boundary transgression between two bodies – and from a visual amalgam of all of this and more. A recurring motif throughout Minda Andréns drawings, paintings and installations is touch. In the various image sources it manifests itself as a promise of healing, spiritual practice, erotic act or gesture of care. The artist removes these interpretations from their context and condenses them into moments of pure physical negotiation, in which the body, or more concretely the encounter of at least two bodies, becomes the site of relationships, dependencies and self-determination, of social norms and control. Wellness

curated by Franz Thalmair takes place on 17 October 2026, 16:00 – 18:00 at Zeller van Almsick.

17 October 2026, 16:00 – 18:00

Zeller van Almsick · Franz-Josefs-Kai 3/16, 1010 Wien

This event is in the Karmeliterviertel neighbourhood (2nd district) – known as hip, diverse, lively.

Nearest public transport stop: Morzinplatz (VAL 2), ~50 m.

Sights nearby: Ruprechtsstiege, Ankeruhr, Griechenkirche zur Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit.

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