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VIENNA FOR ART’S SAKE! CONTEMPORARY ART SHOW
Winter Palace
27 February to 31 May 2015
Invitation image
Contemporary Art Show © 2014 Fabrica, Italy
VIENNA FOR ART’S SAKE! CONTEMPORARY ART SHOW
For three months, the exhibition will contrast contemporary art
and exhibition-maker Peter Noever invited thirteen contemporary artists to enter into a
dialogue with thirteen Baroque rooms at the Winter Palace.
The starting point for the show was
Imago Mundi. A collector and connoisseur of contemporary art, this prominent Italian fashion magnate and president of the
Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche, has been inviting established and emerging artists
all over the world to explore in their art a canvas in a postcard format of 10 by 12 cm. Currently, Benetton can boast over 10,000 works from 60 countries in his ever -growing
inventory of contemporary art. In contrast to Imago Mundi hives,
Peter Noever opened up Archive Austria not only to artists but also to architects and designers who live and work in Vienna or who have left behind an important contribution
to the city, regardless of their geographic origins or nationality. The 161 works from
Archive Austria will be presented in the Primary Exhibition in the Sala Terrena at the
Winter Palace from 27 February to 31 May 2015. The thirteen artists from Archive
Austria, who were selected to create installations in thirteen rooms of the state apartment, explore the significance of contemporary artistic production and visualize the
unbroken force of thinkers and visionaries. On display are installations by Vito + Maria
Elena Acconci, Zaha Hadid, Magdalena Jetelová, Michael Kienzer, Hans Kupelwieser, the next ENTERprise, Hermann Nitsch, Eva Schlegel, Kiki Smith, Iv Toshain, Atelier Van
Lieshout, Koen Vanmechelen, and Manfred Wakolbinger.
The exhibition in Vienna is the first to present on a large scale the stature of the artist
personalities behind the postcard format of 10 by 12 cm. Painters, architects, designers, and Conceptual artists faced the challenge of visualizing their artworks in an unusually small
format. Peter Noever then invited artists to nominate other artists, architects, and designers,
A microcosm to which the artists have given
various forms, intense and mysterious [...] arising from a maximum concentration of strokes,
is how Luciano Benetton The 161 works tell
endures that can enhance our happiness; this vivacity of ideas makes our lives, individual and
collective, richer, mor Benetton continues. Luciano Benetton, who cherishes Austria as a traditional centre of art, set out to secure Peter
Noever for
Luciano Benetton was willing to unconditionally accept my
Peter Noever relates about the collaboration.
essential question: how free can the decision be to make art that is itself produced in a state of
market, the gallery, the collector, and the commissioner with clear guidelines. These and other
premises were the true challenge for me when I was first confronted with the present project.
An experiment. And a process with an uncertain outcome. For me, of course, it was about
nothing less than a liberating view, opening up a new perspective on the actual production of
Peter Noever continues.
After Looking Eastward (Russia), Snapshot Romania (Romania) and Iceland/Boiling Ice
(Iceland), Vienn is now the fourth European collection in Imago Mundi. In this
Imago Mundi is philanthropic in nature and aims to present a wide spectrum featuring a maximum number of artists and perspectives in art.
Luciano Benetton
Luciano Benetton is known as one of the most creative, high-profile artminded entrepreneurs
in the world. In 1965, he founded the Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche, which he led to
international success with non-conformistic ideas. During the 1990ies he launched a provocative ad-campaign in cooperation with the now internationally renowned photographer
Oliver Toscani against war or racial discrimination, causing hot debates. With his art project
Imago Mundi he follows a visionary utopic approach, trying to connect the artworld in a 10 x 12 cm postcard format. This idea is based on a philantropic approach, with the goal to represent a maxiumum of artists and positions in the art world in a broader context. In spite of
his worldwide success, Luciano Benetton was permanently striving to nurture the local culture
and architecture in the Veneto region. www.imagomundiart.com
Peter Noever
Designer and internationally successful exhibition creator Peter Noever was artistic director
and CEO at the MAK Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst/Gegenwartskunst in Vienna. In the years from 1988 to 1993 he was responsible for the general rennovation of the museum, inviting prominent international artists like Donald Judd, Günther Förg and Jenny
Holzer. In 1994 he founded the MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles, including 3 future-oriented houses by the Austrian-american architect Rudolph M. Schindler and
initiated the MAK-Schindler-Scholarship at the Mackey Apartments. There have been approximately 520 exhibitions with international susccess. www.noever-design.com
The 13 artists in the exhibition
Vito + Maria Elena Acconci, Zaha Hadid, Magdalena Jetelová, Michael Kienzer, Hans
Kupelwieser, the next ENTERprise, Hermann Nitsch, Eva Schlegel, Kiki Smith, Iv Toshain, Atelier Van Lieshout, Koen Vanmechelen, Manfred Wakolbinger
A PDF of the catalogue is available for download at:
www.belvedere.at/press (login: pr2015)
THE 13 ARTISTS IN THE EXHIBITION
Vito + Maria Elena Acconci Chapel
TURN/BUMP/TURN, 2015
Bubble wrap, steel cable, programmable colored lights, 198 x 345 x 635 cm Planning and implementation: Harald Trapp, Klaus Molterer
- it is just under 3.7 meters long, but 6.9 meters high - designing for this room is particularly challenging. Vito + Maria Elena Acconci have created a
prismatic architecture made of bubble wrap inside the chapel; as a result the existing
ecclesiastical design of the church interior is only indistinctly visible. Based on a quadrangular floor plan, the architectural structure soars, suggesting a diagonal upward movement. Its
polygonal counterpart on the ceiling, causing its irregular layout, adds a further captivating
aspect to the walk- chapel was situated in his private chambers in the rear part of the Palace; it was established at its current location
only later, in around 1752, using the original altar.
Zaha Hadid Bel Étage Terrace
Steel, 227.5 x 72.5 x 627 cm
Design: Zaha Hadid, Patrik Schumacher, project director: Woody Yao, design team: Gerhild
Orthacker, Peter Logan, in collaboration with Zumtobel / Dornbirn
The bel étage
space. During restoration works on the terrace in 2004, workers discovered preparatory drawings for a wall fresco depicting an ancient amphitheater featuring columns, arcades and
stairs. To date, it is not known why the fresco was never completed.
Zaha Hadid has transformed the Euclidian geometries of these historical preparatory drawings
and future, the installation of steel tubes describes a fluid, four-dimensional world defined by
the narrative of abstraction and flow of space. More Einsteinian than Cartesian, it is a world determined by seamless connectivity; a microcosmic extrusion of the dynamism, complexity,
ecture.
Magdalena Jetelová Hall of Battle Paintings
The essential is no longer visible, 2015 Titanium, carbon fiber, projection, sound, 738 x 880 x 1400 cm
In collaboration with Schiebel
The privileged view of the world from above was originally considered the divine perspective;
the fascination with this perspective of an absolute ruler is recognizable. An unmanned
fought by Prince Eugene, which were depicted by Ignace-Jacques Parrocel between 1704 and
-eye view in a divine,
omniscient way painted by the artist, but by means of digital calculations and technology. Jetelová confronts history with the current speeding up of virtual and real life. She examines
our way of looking at the world of art from a new perspective. Reality is the absence of reality.
Michael Kienzer Gallery Room
Vierung, 2014/15 Aluminum, steel, 246 x 314 x 400 cm
A large sculpture fills the Gallery Room, where Prince Eugene once presented parts of his art collection. This abstract sculpture, made of industrial aluminum elements, with its complex
form vocabulary establishes a direct reference to the baroque stateroom and its history. As a
material, aluminum, and in the tension created by the interconnected individual elements. Kienzer considers a
art is a direct response to the baroque room it is placed in. The artist always takes the room, the large cavity, into consideration as a prerequisite of the sculpture - it becomes part of the
sculpture, for the sculpture was designed exclusively for this room.
Hans Kupelwieser Yellow Room
Hütteldorf im Himmelpfort, 2015 Structure made of spruce, neon tubes, 800 x 400 x 300 cm
A structure has sprung up inside the Baroque Room! For his artistic intervention Hans
made of spruce recalls a mountain hut where one may seek refuge - also from the golden
splendor. Kupelwieser causes the baroque abundance to disappear, replacing it with a plain, simple room. Golden rays of light reach into the walk-in wooden sculpture only through a
number of slits deliberately incorporated into the structure; however, details of the
surroundings can no longer be made out. Baroque seems to be very far away. The hut is a political, revolutionary act against the palace.
the next ENTERprise Rosa Room, the Former Second Library Hall
silent conquest, 2015
Object made of heat-sealed Complain foil, filled with air and water, covered by a textile net (45 mm meshes, Ø 3 mm diagonally), spotlight, fragrance, 450 x 450 x 120 160 cm
Fragrance created by: Yogesh Kumar, www.dasparfum.com
Lighting concept: Christian Ploderer in cooperation with Lukas Kaltenbeck Object produced by: Plecherplanen, www.plecher.at; Haanl, www.haanl.at
the next ENTERprise-architects
A large, black-blue object occupies the Rosa Room, the former second library hall. The
intervention relates to its baroque surroundings in deliberately ambivalent ways: on the one
hand the object seems like a foreign object landed in the center of the room; on the other hand its haptic characteristics enable visitors to interact playfully with each other and with the
room. If touched by visitors, the object, filled with air and water, transforms these touches into
reflections of light that create an interactive painting on the ceiling. The installation, which also
qualities, its proportions as well as its use of light engage all the senses to counteract the representative architecture of the Baroque
Hermann Nitsch State Bedroom
Vorbereitung zu einer Aktion, 2015 Installation, 115 x 909 x 687 cm
long table has been laid in white; there are glasses, two-liter bottles of wine, stretchers, and
buckets with paint residues. The long sidewall has been covered by a white cloth; a manifesto
and ideas. In front of the cloth the recording of an action performed by Nitsch during the 2012
Havana Biennial, interspersed with parts of an interview given this winter, is projected onto a
wooden wall. The projection marks the spot on the wall where the pig that is to be eviscerated will hang. The score for the intervention at the Winter Palace can be seen in a showcase; a
relic (a gown used for painting) is on display on the sidewall. On Pentecost Nitsch will stage a
Pentecost reception in the exhibition room, where he will serve his own wine to visitors.
Eva Schlegel Conference Room
Untitled (conference table), 2015
Steel, lead, pigment, 670 x 70 x 70 cm
The cruciform table/sculpture inside the former Conference Room all but denies visitors
access to the room. In her work Schlegel refers to the concepts associated with a conference
table: talks, discourse, and the juxtaposition of different arguments. The dull lead coating of
metal points to weapons, ammunition, and war, which were essential for making such lavish
décor in a baroque setting possible in the first place. The surface is covered with quotes by Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu (c. 544 496 BC) and Prince Eugene, written with blood-red
ceiling by Peter Strudel: Der Sieg der Gerechtigkeit über den ungerechten Herrscher (The
Victory of Justice over the Unjust Ruler).
Kiki Smith Green Room
Girl with white blankets, 1998 2014 Fine silver (figure), bronze (base), about 52.7 x 27.9 x 14 cm
Silkscreen ink on patch work quilted cotton, each 170 x 159 cm
Courtesy Pace Gallery, New York
The silver figure of a girl with feathers in her hands (Girl) stands on a base in the room. This
poetic work of art is situated in the former Library Room of Prince Eugene, whose comprehensive collection of books laid the foundations for the Austrian National Library. For
years Kiki Smith has been exploring the relation of the natural and the intellectual or spiritual
world in her works. She draws attention to the creaturely nature of human beings with their moral concepts and animalistic instincts, but also their spiritual and intellectual needfulness;
with White Blankets, a work featuring ink drawings of birds on white blankets. On the one hand, the blankets evoke the innocence of sleep; on the other hand, the black birds exude a
menacing and ominous air.
Iv Toshain Antechamber
NOMOS BASILEUS, 2015 Stainless steel, chrome, sandblast, aluminum, neon, Ø 250 cm (morning star)
oversized morning star that symbolizes Venus, the evening star, and Lucifer. The installation
has replaced the valuable crystal chandelier, which currently lies on the floor, deprived of its
(the law is king) is written in neon letters. Toshain refers to a text on the deeds of Hercules by
the poet Pindar (518-446 BC). The words nomos, acc
point to the law and violence, the historical and present constant of war. These words constitute a formula for the very focal point bequeathed to Western political thinking - in a
democracy, the law rules. However, if you walk around the morning star, NOMOS BASILEUS
becomes BASILEUS NOMOS (the king is the law).
Atelier Van Lieshout Red Room
Mechanical Turk, 2015 Steel, 195 x 112 x 240 cm
Atelier Van Lieshout, Courtesy Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna
The sieges of the city of Vienna by the Ottoman army have gone down in Austrian history as
the First and Second Turkish Siege of Vienna (in 1529 and 1683). Not least, Prince Eugene
won the decisive Battle of Zenta against the Ottoman Turks. To date there is a gap in research on the Ottoman view of Austria and the Habsburg era. Van Lieshout (re-)constructs this view
by means of his installation Mechanical Turk, which confronts visitors with an imaginary
perspective of the former enemy in English. The work rechess automaton invented by the Austro-Hungarian court official Wolfgang von Kempelen
(1734-1804). In fact, a person was hidden inside the device. The Mechanical Turk is an
automaton that represents a symbiosis of man and machine.
Koen Vanmechelen Dining Hall
Protected Paradise - C.C.P., 2015
Macaws, corn, glass house, wood, neon, 150.3 x 54.3 x 22.4 cm
Dining Hall; the room contains a large, industrial aviary where two blue-and-gold macaws live.
Koen Vanmechelen addresses the issue of the contrast between culture (Baroque) and nature (birds). Inside the artistic-artificial space of the Winter Palace, only a domesticated kind of
nature can be found, inside a cage. Prince Eugene already had a menagerie of exotic animals
and birds. Koen Vanmechelen establishes a direct connection of our present, the endangered
protected, but also a closed-off and endangered paradise.
Manfred Wakolbinger Gold Cabinet
Forces (Highrise), 2014 Steel, aluminum, 283 x 325 x 87 cm
Galaxies #1 4, 2012 2015 Each 6.13 min, Loop, HD
Animation: Philipp Leissing, sound score: Christian Fennesz
A projectile seems to be hurtling through the Gold Cabinet; at the same time Manfred
and hard, while its form hints at sensuality and softness. This irritating discrepancy relates to
features underwater creatures (pelagic sea squirts), thus referring to the fact that life
originated in water, to a paradisiacal nature, and at the same time to the cycle of life and death. The video enters into a dialog with the heavenly putti and the flowers of the painting on
the ceiling. The sound track was written by avant-garde musician Christian Fennesz.
LIST OF ARTISTS
Vienna for Art’s Sake! 161 Artists of Archive Austria
Vito + Maria Elena Acconci Uli Aigner
Gerry Ammann
Elena Ascari Christian Ludwig Attersee
Alfredo Barsuglia
Friedrich Biedermann Sabine Bitter & Helmut Weber
Reinhard Blum
Johanna Braun Gilbert Bretterbauer
Sergej Bugaev Afrika
CHRISTO Hermann Czech
Gunter Damisch
Matias del Campo Delugan Meissl Associated Architects
Hernan Diaz Alonso
Lui Dimanche Andreas Donhauser
Veronika Drahotová
Georg Driendl Heinrich Dunst
Nathalie Du Pasquier
Gregor Eichinger Raha Farazmand
Marina Faust
Didier Faustino Tone Fink
Heinz Frank
Padhi Frieberger Gab/Mer (Gábor Bachman)
Gab/Mer (Meral Yasar)
Frank O. Gehry Sara Glaxia
Beka Goedde
Chris Goennawein Dorothee Golz
Franz Graf Gregor Graf
Sophie Grell
Harald Gründl (EOOS Design) Helmuth Gsöllpointner
Johann Georg Gsteu
Zaha Hadid Florian Hafele
Heiri Häfliger
Aglaia Haritz Zvi Hecker
Kurt Hentschläger
Roger Herman Yuki Higashino
Benjamin Hirte
Richard Hoeck Edgar Honetschläger
Michael Höpfner
Fred Jellinek Magdalena Jetelová
Brookhart Jonquil
Franka Kaßner Milli Kaufmann
Herwig Kempinger
Michael Kienzer Peter Kogler
Rebecca Kolsrud
Zenita Komad Elisabeth Kopf
Willi Kopf
Julia Körner Kasper Kovitz
Elena Kovylina
Brigitte Kowanz Doris Krüger & Walter Pardeller
Elke Krystufek
Christoph A. Kumpusch Hans Kupelwieser
Helmut Lang
Sonia Leimer Andrea Lenardin Madden
Ulrike Lienbacher
Ross Lovegrove Marko Luli
Constantin & Clemens Luser
Greg Lynn Mark Mack
Sandra Manninger
Luiza Margan Ewald Maurer
Thom Mayne
Thomas Traxler
Rudi Molacek
Julie Monaco Janet Olmsted Cross
Eric Owen Moss
Otto Muehl Anca Munteanu Rimnic
Johann Neumeister
Flora Neuwirth next ENTERprise (Marie-Therese Harnoncourt &
Ernst J. Fuchs)
Michael Niemetz Hermann Nitsch
Oswald Oberhuber
PAUHOF (Michael Hofstätter & Wolfgang Pauzenberger)
Gustav Peichl
Roman Pfeffer Franz Pomassl
Wolf D. Prix (COOP HIMMELB(L)AU)
Carl Pruscha Stephanie Rauch
Lucas Reiner
Paul Renner Martyn Reynolds
Franz Riedl
Paul Ritter Alexis Rochas
David Roth
Charly Roussel Constanze Ruhm
Peter Sandbichler
Martina Schettina Alfons Schilling
Kristina Schinegger & Stefan Rutzinger
Eva Schlegel Hubert Schmalix
Ferdinand Schmatz
Anneliese Schrenk Vera Sebert
Elfie Semotan
Nicole Six & Paul Petritsch Kiki Smith
Bernhard Sommer
Marcelo Spina Béatrice Stähli
Rudi Stanzel
Station Rose (Elisa Rose & Gary Danner) Kamen Stoyanov
Gabriele Sturm
Helmut Swiczinsky Michael Szivos
Linda Taalman
tat ort (Alexandra Berlinger & Wolfgang Fiel) TEAM[:]niel (Veronika Bayer, Daniel &
Claudia Feyerl)
Anthony Titus Iv Toshain
Josef Trattner
Gerhard Treml Iké Udé
Atelier Van Lieshout
Koen Vanmechelen Manfred Wakolbinger
Martin Walde
Walking Chair (Karl Emilio Pircher & Fidel Peugeot)
Adam Wehsely-Swiczinsky
Hans Weigand Markus Wilfling
Matthew Wilkinson
Hiro Yamagata Giulio Zanet
Dragan Zivadinov
Heimo Zobernig Antoinette Zwirchmayr
GENERAL INFORMATION Exhibition Title
Contemporary Art Show
Exhibition Duration 27 February to 31 May 2015
Venue Winter Palace
Exhibits 174
Creator Peter Noever
Assistance Axel Köhne
Contact Belvedere, Prinz Eugen-Straße 27, 1030 Vienna T +43 (01) 795 57-0 www.belvedere.at
Opening Hours Daily 10 am to 6 pm
Regular Tickets - (Winter Palace)
Guided Tours T +43 (01) 795 57-134, M [email protected]
Public Relations Belvedere & Winter Palace Public Relations Prinz Eugen-Straße 27, 1030 Vienna T +43 (01) 795 57-177 M [email protected] Complimentary images can be downloaded for press purposes at www.belvedere.at/press (login: pr2015). By request we also provide images of the 161 exhibited artists of the Archive Austria.
With special thanks to Luciano Benetton