translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville,
040509: MUSA – Museum auf Abruf: MOSTLY CLOUDY – transient phenomena in the sky
MUSA – Museum auf Abruf: MOSTLY CLOUDY – transient phenomena in the sky
When the body becomes light
The City of Vienna’s art collection is extensive: in the past, its cultural office has arranged quite a few remarkable exhibits - exclusively using its own works. Including “Das Ding mit dem Foto”, 1999, “Vom Selbstzweck der Farbe”, 2001, and “Mutations”, 2007.
Currently, the Museum auf Abruf (MUSA) has devoted itself to the topic of clouds. The subtitle already points in the direction of the exhibition: to the ephemeral, intangible airy phenomena; optimally presented in Hubert Sielecki’s video: a text by Gerhard Rühm with obvious associations to all things transitory is recited parallel to the slow dissolution of a fleecy cloud - (“ … when the body becomes lighter, much lighter, … when the body becomes light in the light, the body becomes light and weightless…”). Siegrun Appelt’s installation is an additional good example - the motion of clouds is visible with the help of overlaying slides.
Josef Schwaiger’s increasingly monochrome colour streaks on aluminium illustrate the formal qualities of clouds and their artistic handling. And although the hanging of the works in the exhibition clearly points to the correlation, as well as the divergence, of the artistic focus, e.g. in Eva Schlegel’s and Elfriede Mejchar’s works, which both have a similar degree of abstraction although they were created with completely different techniques, the exhibition runs the risk of being too uniform. Half of the cloud paintings would have sufficed; many of them are rather insignificant and more decorative than anything else.
If the questionable quality of one or the other work depresses the exhibit’s standard, the mere quantity of a collection can be problematic. On the other hand the presentation offers surprising discoveries: for example the fact that Anton Lehmden’s aquarelle, which was probably created in 1950 “orbiting on the planet”, could easily have originated from a talented 21st century artist, is actually quite a surprise.
By Nina Schedlmayer
MUSA – Museum auf Abruf
1010 Vienna, Felderstrasse 6-8, next to the Vienna Town Hall, until 30.05.09
www.musa.at
040509
MUSA
1010 Wien, Felderstraße 6-8, neben dem Rathaus
Tel: +43 (0)1 4000 8400, Fax: +43 (0)1 4000 99 8400
Email: musa@musa.at
http://www.musa.at
Öffnungszeiten: Di - Fr: 11:00 - 18:00, Do: 11:00 - 20:00, Sa: 11:00 - 16:00 Uhr
MUSA
1010 Wien, Felderstraße 6-8, neben dem Rathaus
Tel: +43 (0)1 4000 8400, Fax: +43 (0)1 4000 99 8400
Email: musa@musa.at
http://www.musa.at
Öffnungszeiten: Di - Fr: 11:00 - 18:00, Do: 11:00 - 20:00, Sa: 11:00 - 16:00 Uhr