Austrian artists Christine and Irene Hohenbüchler are identical twins; Christine studied sculpture, Irene painting. For the past eight years, their work has been realized through a collaborative process. Past projects in Europe with the disabled, hospital patients, children, school and community groups have involved knitting, weaving, sewing, and furniture craftsmanship. The results are a blend of design, sculpture and installation. Through this practice of multiple authorship the Hohenbüchlers strive to create a polyphonic visual language. There are clear borrowings from folk art, domestic/household craft, and Viennese art nouveau in their work.

The Hohenbüchlers will be in residence at the Art Gallery of York University through the month of March. They will be working with craft and visual arts students and staff from the Muki Baum Association School of the Arts, North York. Christine and Irene Hohenbüchler represented Austria at the 1999 Venice Biennale and were included in documenta x, (Kassel, 1997). In 1999 they exhibited at the Center for Contemporary Art Kitakyushu, Japan, the Camden Centre, London, and Gallery Stampa, Basel. Their exhibition at the Art Gallery of York University will be their premiere in North America.