The art collective Brenner-Havelka-Plessl formed during their shared studies at the University of Applied Arts Vienna - a place to which they now deliberately return with the performance Straitjacket. In a space that once functioned as a site of learning, the collective now appears as a performing entity before a new generation of students - observed, drawn, studied.

The straitjacket, constructed from fragments of paper and linen, is put on and gradually tightened until movement exists only as a form of inner tension. The performance negotiates the precarious balance between artistic self-empowerment and structural pressure - between mutual support and self-imposed constraint.

Drawing on Thomas Bernhard’s concept of "Weltkarrierezwangsjacke", the work exposes how the desire to make a living from one’s own art can turn into a form of compulsion. The collective presents itself as vulnerable and entangled - tightly bound within a system that it simultaneously critiques, inhabits, and challenges.

The project resulted in a one-hour performance film, a fine art photography series, and 72 drawings by art students.

Movie© Teo Barnert

Photo© Daniel Kindler