BELOVED MONSTERS

Poster exhibition by students of the Department of Media Design, University of Art and Design Linz

"Horror, more than any other, is a genre of empathy (...) Our fears are constantly in flux, and horror is uniquely positioned to extract and transform them into something fantastic and awesome, but also something that, ultimately, potentially, we can conquer) Our fears are constantly in flux, and horror is uniquely positioned to extract and transform them into something fantastical and awesome, but also something that, ultimately, potentially, we can conquer, Horror keeps us safe." 

Feeding The Monster- Why Horror Has A Hold On Us 
Anna Bogutskaya p.10.

In the summer semester of 2025, the Cinematheque / Media Design course at the University of Art and Design Linz was dedicated entirely to fantastic film - the genre of fairy tales, fantasy, horror and science fiction and the question of how this genre, which is very popular with young people, can be used for media education work.
The students looked at their favourite fantastic monsters or cinematic creatures individually selected examples from international film history. They posed questions to their favourite monster from a personal perspective and explored what questions their monster in turn poses to them and to society. 

The result was a series of seven filmic-research posters:

Noël Barz // Spirits / Geister

Marlene Baumgartner & Magdalena Reiter // Magical Horses

Mika Brandhofer // Plants

Janna Handl // Dragons

Marlene Mickla // Aliens

Suzuka Nakao // Fressmonster

Fabian Pichler // Imagined Monsters

The results are still available until 27 October 2025. October 2025 in a changing window exhibition in the windows of FIFTITU%- Vernetzungsstelle für Frauen* in Kunst und Kultur in OÖ, Domgasse 14, A-4020 Linz. 

Inside the teaching there was the opportunity to talk to experts about drastic aesthetics and monsters, thanks to: Rebekka Hochreiter / artist, Judith Gattermayr / artist, Markus Keuschnigg / founder of the Slash Film Festival, Oliver Stangl / film critic, Edgar Honetschläger / artist and filmmaker.

Concept / Teaching Cinematheque: Antonia Prochaska

Photocredit: Rebekka Hochreiter / Antonia Prochaska 

University of Art and Design Linz // Department of Media Design // Cinemathek 

The exhibition is a cooperation with M.C.Monster* and FIFTITU%