SUBTLE SUPERSTITION OF INNOCENCE
Cracow, 7.08.2026 - 30.08.2026
Artysta:
Maria Schneider
Maria Schneider
Subtle superstition of innocence unfolds around the quiet violence of ideas that have become so familiar they appear natural. Innocence, purity, motherhood, femininity, and care are often presented as timeless values, yet they are shaped by cultural narratives, religious symbolism, and political interests. The exhibition asks what remains when these inherited ideals begin to fracture.
The works examine the bodies onto which these expectations are projected. Who is permitted to decide over a body, and who benefits from restricting that autonomy? Rather than offering fixed answers, the exhibition exposes the mechanisms through which control is aestheticized, moralized, and quietly normalized.
Recurring symbols—such as the swan, long associated with purity, grace, and idealized femininity, or the color pink, historically redefined as a marker of gender—are displaced from their familiar meanings. Their transformation reveals that what is often perceived as natural is, in fact, constructed, rehearsed, and maintained. Once these symbols are unsettled, they begin to speak of loss, resistance, and the possibility of change rather than innocence itself.
The title suggests that innocence functions less as a state than as a superstition: a fragile belief sustained through repetition. It promises protection while demanding conformity, disguising systems of exclusion and control beneath the language of morality and care.
subtle superstition of innocence invites viewers to look beyond appearances and to question the myths that continue to shape ideas of gender, reproduction, and belonging.
The exhibition is questioning what has long been accepted as norm and asks for a change that should have happened already long time ago and states out that it's about time to put the patriarchy to the graveyard of the past.
Maria Schneider (*26.06.1992, Graz) is a visual artist whose works deal with emotional processes and social issues and her own existence within them. She completed the class for photography and multimedia art at the HTBLuVA Ortweinschool for art and design in Graz in 2011 and the
masterclass for sculpture in 2017, with her final project being awarded a scholarship from the Kürbis Wies cultural initiative. Her practice moves between installation, sculpture, film, photography, graphics, painting and sound. The perception and observation of herself and her surroundings as well as site-specific work serve as the basis of her artistic work, which has already taken her to Croatia, Belgium, Germany, New York and Spain. In her works, she deals with the psyche as well as social pressure and the stimulation of discourse about existing social systems and structures. She invites viewers to explore the complexity of their own interior spaces and to trigger critical thinking and the questioning of their own position.
She is a member of the Grazer art association “ROTER KEIL” @roter_keil since 2015, where she currently also runs her studio. In 2020 she received the working scholarship for visual arts from the Land Steiermark, Culture Department and in 2023 and the abroad scholarship for visual arts and film from the Land Steiermark, Culture Department.
Thanks to the generous cooperation with The Cultural Department of the State of Styria conducted and coordinated by Christiane Kada.
Partners:
The Cultural Department of the State of Styria
Dom Utopii - International Empathy Center
Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, Painting Department
Piana Gallery Foundation
Cracow City Culture Department
The works examine the bodies onto which these expectations are projected. Who is permitted to decide over a body, and who benefits from restricting that autonomy? Rather than offering fixed answers, the exhibition exposes the mechanisms through which control is aestheticized, moralized, and quietly normalized.
Recurring symbols—such as the swan, long associated with purity, grace, and idealized femininity, or the color pink, historically redefined as a marker of gender—are displaced from their familiar meanings. Their transformation reveals that what is often perceived as natural is, in fact, constructed, rehearsed, and maintained. Once these symbols are unsettled, they begin to speak of loss, resistance, and the possibility of change rather than innocence itself.
The title suggests that innocence functions less as a state than as a superstition: a fragile belief sustained through repetition. It promises protection while demanding conformity, disguising systems of exclusion and control beneath the language of morality and care.
subtle superstition of innocence invites viewers to look beyond appearances and to question the myths that continue to shape ideas of gender, reproduction, and belonging.
The exhibition is questioning what has long been accepted as norm and asks for a change that should have happened already long time ago and states out that it's about time to put the patriarchy to the graveyard of the past.
Maria Schneider (*26.06.1992, Graz) is a visual artist whose works deal with emotional processes and social issues and her own existence within them. She completed the class for photography and multimedia art at the HTBLuVA Ortweinschool for art and design in Graz in 2011 and the
masterclass for sculpture in 2017, with her final project being awarded a scholarship from the Kürbis Wies cultural initiative. Her practice moves between installation, sculpture, film, photography, graphics, painting and sound. The perception and observation of herself and her surroundings as well as site-specific work serve as the basis of her artistic work, which has already taken her to Croatia, Belgium, Germany, New York and Spain. In her works, she deals with the psyche as well as social pressure and the stimulation of discourse about existing social systems and structures. She invites viewers to explore the complexity of their own interior spaces and to trigger critical thinking and the questioning of their own position.
She is a member of the Grazer art association “ROTER KEIL” @roter_keil since 2015, where she currently also runs her studio. In 2020 she received the working scholarship for visual arts from the Land Steiermark, Culture Department and in 2023 and the abroad scholarship for visual arts and film from the Land Steiermark, Culture Department.
Thanks to the generous cooperation with The Cultural Department of the State of Styria conducted and coordinated by Christiane Kada.
Partners:
The Cultural Department of the State of Styria
Dom Utopii - International Empathy Center
Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, Painting Department
Piana Gallery Foundation
Cracow City Culture Department
