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English summaries November 12 - 24
Galerie im Taxispalais
Foreign & Familiar
29.09.2013 – 01.12.2013
By Daniela Gregori
You've experienced this yourself. You've hardly got everything arranged to suit your own ways, perceptions or views when something turns up which appears not to fit into the cosy scheme of things. Whether it is ethnicities, attitudes towards life or other generations, the reactions swing between unease and curious interest. In the Innsbrucker Galerie im Taxipalais, the exhibition "Foreign & Familiar" addresses this phenomenon of that which is unfamiliar in one's own cultural and environmental world, respectively, how methods from ethnology or sociology are applied in artistic practice. What sounds somewhat theoretical has turned out to be a wonderfully clever and entertaining exhibition, impeccable – including the catalogue.
The two curators, Lotte Dinser and Jürgen Tabor have chosen 14 positions – ranging from unfamiliarity in one's own neighbourhood, such as Peter Piller's “Tatort” (TV crime series) houses, the codes of sub-cultural appearances of the fan and youth culture, such as Anna Witt's notably buoyant juxtaposition of rappers and rapping sociologists, from consumer products which, in the case of Mark Dion's "Sea Life" are presented as completely alien in other connections or the approach to ethnicities with all their prejudices. Coco Fusco, together with Guillermo Gómez-Peña let themselves be showcased in a cage in exotic costumes and the artist graphically captures the reaction of the audience.
With his women's handbag series, Hans Peter Feldmann fulfilled his childhood dream. He was never allowed to look into his mother's handbag and now he's bought eleven handbags, together with their contents, for 500 euros from women unknown to him - arranged the contents neatly and spread them out. Nothing reveals so much about a woman as the contents of her handbag, it's well-nigh a highly intimate terrain.
Galerie im Taxispalais
6020 Innsbruck, Maria-Theresien-Str. 45
Tel: +43 512 508 3170
Fax: +43 512 508 3175
E-mail: taxis.galerie@tirol.gv.at
www.galerieimtaxispalais.at
Opening hours: Tue-Sun: 11-18 hours, Thu: 11-20 hours
Wien Museum Karlsplatz
The Austrian Riviera – Vienna discovers the seaside
14.11.2013 – 30.03.2014
By Susanne Rohringer
In a modified form of the famous poem by Ingeborg Bachmann "Bohemia is located by the seaside", the visitor to the special exhibition in the Wien Museum, "The Austrian Riviera", gets an impression of the northern Adriatic in the years between 1890 and 1914.
The so-called "Austrian Riviera" stretches from the Italian seaside village of Grado, through Trieste and down to Rijeka. From 1873 on, one could travel there comfortably with the Südbahn (Southern Railway). By 1857, the Südbahn already went as far as Trieste. Re-routing the Austrian nobility away from the French Riviera down to the Austrian coast was a political intention and was supported by extending the tracks to Istria. Travellers could then continue on to the more southern regions in Split/Spalato and Dubrovnik/Ragusa by steamer. Friedrich Julius Schüler, General Director of the Südbahngesellschaft (Southern Railway Company), supported the development of the region by building several hotels along the coast.
Whilst Grado later accommodated the middle classes, the elegant world alighted in Abbazia. There was a health salon, a Hotel Crown Princess Stephanie and a waterside promenade. Female artists played a certain role in the cultural life of the place. The painter, Stephanie Glax, daughter of the local doctor, led the way, and created lithographs of the fishermen, the society ladies and the sea front. The works are on view in the exhibition at the Wien Museum, together with plein air paintings by Emil Jacob Schindler, Eugen Jettel and Egon Schiele. The latter painted a small boat in Trieste harbour in 1908. When one looks at the painting, the movement of the waves and the play of light and shadow are there right before one's eyes.
Just how much this spa life enhanced the lives of the elite of the Habsburg monarchy but in no way enhanced trade for the local population, can be gathered from the very comprehensive catalogue published by Christian Rapp and Nadia Rapp-Wimberger. Room furnishings came from Vienna as well as linen, but also the headwaiters, hairdressers, doctors and architects. Even fresh bread was delivered daily from Vienna. The local population were only taken on as ancillaries. The nationality problem – a very touchy subject just before the war – was ignored by the aristocracy. The power struggles between the Slavs, mostly less educated, simple people and the Italian bourgeoisie could definitely be felt. But in Abbazia, one stuck with one's kind.
All in all, this Adriatic exhibition in the Wien Museum is a slightly nostalgic retrospection of the lost splendour of an era. But it makes no secret of the dark(er) side of this holiday boom. As in former times, many of us travel with our families from Vienna to the Adriatic. Thus, the Italian, Istrian and Dalmatian coasts are still an aspiration and a collective reservoir of (holiday) reminiscences. The continuities still live on. Even if fragmented.
Wien Museum Karlsplatz
1040 Vienna, Karlsplatz
Tel: +43 1 5058747-0
Fax: +43 1 5058747-7201
www.wienmuseum.at
Opening hours: Tue-Sun: 10.00-18.00 hours
Museum Angerlehner
First presentation of the Angerlehner Collection
13.09.2013 – 09.08.2014
By Goschka Gawlik
In September 2013, Austria’s newest museum attraction opened its gates to the public. Heinz J. Angerlehner’s private collection found a home in the Museum for Contemporary Art in Thalheim near Wels. In contrast to other collections in Austria, the museum is not housed in a newly constructed concrete building - it was embeded in the already existing and newly designed production and assembly halls of the company Ferro-Montage GmbH. The Upper Austrian collector wanted to upgrade the premises with which he is associated privately and professionally for more than 30 years – thereby providing sustainable impulses for the entire industrial region. The building has a modest and elegant appeal – even if it is only a simple black box.
The exhibition space encompasses 2,000 square meters and includes an open presentation depot (Schaulager), similar to the one in the Museum Liaunig. At the entrance to the exhibition space the collector’s passion for painting and especially for large-format paintings becomes evident. The audience is welcomed by a huge-format work created by Markus Prachensky juxtaposed with an eight-meter long woodcut by Erich Steininger.
Angerlehner’s collection doesn't offer any surprises, but what’s remarkable about the exhibition is the way the works are presented: paintings by Hubert Schmalix are hung next to those by Erwin Bohatsch, Hubert Scheibel’s are next to Eva Schlegel’s, Herbert Brandl's next to Walter Vopava's, Günther Damisch's next to Wolfang Stifter's, Martin Schnur's next to Alfred Klinkan's, and Hannes Mlenek works are hung between works by Wolfgang Hollegha and Gottfried Mairwöger.
The Angerlehner Museum focuses on presenting to date unknown Upper Austrian artists in a national and international context as well as providing intellectual stimuli.
Museum Angerlehner
4600 Thalheim near Wels, Ascheter Straße 54
Tel: +43 7242 224422 - 13
www.museum-angerlehner.at
Arbeiterkammer Wien
Anna Artaker, Reconstruction of the Rothschild Collection
13.11.2013 – 30.04.2014
By Nina Schedlmayer
The timing could not have been better: just when every newspaper reported on looted art and restitution (Ucicky, Beethoven fries, Gurlitt), Anna Artaker presented her installation in the Arbeiterkammer Wien (AK - Vienna’s Chamber of Labour).
The exhibition shows her wallpaper reconstructions of parts of the Viennese Rothschild family’s collection. Only very few people are aware that both Rothschild palaces, which were expropriated in 1938 and torn-down after the war - were once located at today’s venue of the Chamber and its adjacent education centre. Artaker printed 77 of the hundreds of paintings that once belonged to Nathaniel and Albert Rothschild, as well as their sons, on wallpaper – in their original size including a photo and proof of origin. The latter provides information about the winding paths that some of the works had taken: For example, beneath a portrait of Friedrich von Amerling one finds the following remarks: Intended for the Führer museum in Linz. Restitution 16.5. 1946, 1947 – 1998 Belvedere, Inv. Nr. 4262, Christie’s London, 8.7.1999, lot 211”. More well known are the portraits by Frans Hals, which were housed in the Art History Museum for many years and were only returned in 1998 and played an important role in restitution history.
Artaker arranged the works according to the origin of their artists, beginning with portraits and gallant scenes by French artists (Francois Boucher, Jean-Honoré Fragonard), followed by a large number of Dutch paintings (Jan Yet, Jacob van Ruisdael, Adriaen van de Velde, Melchior de Hondecoeter), some Italians (Francesco Guardi, Canaletto) and British artists (Thomas Gainsborough, George Romney and, last, works from German-speaking regions (Hans Holbein, Meister vom Schloss Liechtenstein). Some of the works are shown in black-and-white – as a reference to their unknown whereabouts.
In the harsh ambience of the main hall, the prints almost develop a kind of resistance, opposing the austere surroundings that are dissected by dominant pillars. However, the particular style of reconstruction lets the visitors overcome their fear of embarking on something new - a feeling that is usually evoked by traditional museums. The multifaceted exhibition not only communicates information on looted art and restitution, but also on essential questions regarding the presentation of art and its mediation.
Arbeiterkammer Wien
1040 Vienna, Prinz Eugenstraße 20-22
kultur.arbeiterkammer.at
Mehr Texte von translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville
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