Vienna
Maria Bussman | Günter Brus | Bruno Gironcoli | Franz Graf | Arnulf Rainer | Werner Reiterer | Michael Ziegler | Erwin Wurm
5th October 2010 - 6th January 2011
Works
Artworks
Press Release
On monday, October 4th at 6 p.m., Galleria Marie-Laure Fleisch is opening the group exhibition Vienna, curated by Peter Weiermair.
Drawing inspiration from the city of the same name, which becomes the object of the exhibition itself, it presents some of the foremost protagonists of contemporary Austrian art. The exhibition is the first stage in a research project dealing with the art of the major European capitals (and beyond), which have always stood out as the main factories where new trends are produced by blending past and present culture.
In the case of Vienna, the early 20th century revolution and, above all, the socio-cultural movement that emerged at the end of the 1960s, are the most significant historical moments that have given life to major trends in art. The principles of social life, like the languages of art itself, were questioned during these years, and have now been chosen as the object of analysis for this exhibition. Vienna is a city where the creative power of the whole of Austria has converged, and the fact that the exhibited artists all relate to past cultural experiences is not without reason: if we think of major figures like Sigmund Freud or Ludwig Wittgenstein, we can understand what their formative cultural environment looked like.
The exhibition focuses in particular on drawing and works on paper, but also leaves room for an artist like Werner Reiterer, who has created an interactive installation especially for the gallery. In a similar way, Erwin Wurm's work encourages the public to participate, psychologically and physiologically. Arnulf Rainer, Bruno Gironcoli and Günter Brus form the historical core of the exhibited artists. Gironcoli works like a choreographer on the power of objects that belong to our civilization. Rainer uses radical signs to make drawing interventions on motives of ancient Italian art, initiating a dialogue with himself and his works. After the season of Viennese Actionism, Brus has turned into a great poet of the image-text interaction. Franz Graf, too, works in the area where text and image overlap, while Maria Bussmann views drawing as a method of investigating various philosophical topics. The fragile eroticism of puberty is the main theme for Michael Ziegler, who could well be an illustrator of Robert Musil's world.
On this occasion, a catalogue will be published, containing a text by the curator documenting the exhibition, as well as information on the artists in the form of self-reflections and comments. The title drawing "Vienna", which also appears on the catalogue cover as the exhibition's manifesto, was created by Arnulf Rainer for the occasion.