ephemeropteræ 2014 launches the third consecutive season of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary foundation’s summer season spoken-word performance series held bi-weekly in six prolonged episodes, curated by Daniela Zyman and Boris Ondreička. These unique, open-air acts explore the rich traditions and evanescent articulations of poetry, literature, performance, philosophy, and language-based artistic practice at TBA21–Augarten. ephemeropteræ–referring to species which live only for a brief moment - stages the fleeting emergence of singular and truly remarkable voices performing, displaying, and choreographing spoken expression. 

The ongoing performance series is presented on the Augarten grounds, centered around the eponymous stage structure designed by David Adjaye, the acclaimed British-Ghanaian architect. The ephemeropteræ pavilion consists of a trapezoidal prism made of timber slats, which frames the view of the surrounding park and references, somewhat ironically, the proscenium of classic theater; part skeletal structure, part metaphorical soapbox. Food and drinks, served by the nearby Die AU Café, can be enjoyed upon picnic blankets.

Invited guests for this season include a roster of prominent authors, visual artists, performers, filmmakers and interdisciplinary mavericks who will take the stage and share their words and contributions to these evening programs. Confirmed guests include: writer and scholar Armen Avanessian, publisher and literary mainstay Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi, composer and actor Christopher James Chaplin, playwright and filmmaker Kerstin Cmelka, globally-inspired poet and collaborator Ann Cotten, curator and anthropologist Clementine Deliss, performance-based artist Simon Fujiwara, Irish-born writer, editor and publisher John Holten, rebellious filmmaker and social critic Ruth Kaaserer, dramaturge and writer Sandra Noeth, ethnologist and filmmaker Michael Oppitz, experimental electronic musician and Kraut-rock legend Hans-Joachim Roedelius, philosopher and writer Marcus Steinweg, graphic artist and illustrator Andreas Töpfer & performance artist Helga Wretman.

ephemeropteræ in its previous editions (2012, 2013) have featured live acts by John Giorno, Lydia Lunch, Karl Holmqvist, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Gilbert Bretterbauer, Son of the Velvet Rat, Dominik Steiger, Blixa Bargeld, Kenneth Goldsmith, Charles Bernstein, Tris Vonna Michell, Erick Beltran, Bernardo Ortiz, Hassan Khan, Rasha Salti, Vaginal Davis, Johannes Porsch, Tanja Widmann, Andreas Neumeister, Carl Michael von Hausswollf, Nicole Blackmann, Wanda Coleman, Japanther, Tashweesh, Work Method (Guillaume Desange & Frederique Cherbouf), La Stampa (Jörg Heiser, Jan Verwoert and others), Antonio Caro, Lois & Franziska Weinberger, Christian Fennesz, Edgar Honetschläger, Superflex, Simon Starling, Ines Doujak, Ruth Noack, Ragnar Kjartansson, Asdis Sif Gunnardsdottir, Gelitin, Susan Stenger, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Peter Gidal, Chicks on Speed, David Adjaye, Anna Artaker and Josef Penninger.