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English summary March 22 - 28
Helmhaus Zurich
Ian Anüll – Rien ne va plus
05.02.10 – 05.04.10
® 2010 Ian Anüll: Alchemy, Allegory, Paradox
The pencil tracing on the wall seems to have been discontinued in the midst of its formation: “Rien ne va plus”, written in white letters, is barely legible on its gray background, becoming one with the gray floor of the Helmhaus, conveying an unfinished work process. For the past 25 years, Ian Anüll’s work has been inspired by the famous expression of croupiers at the roulette table. A half-finished mural, in the midst of its completion - and “rien ne va plus”?
The game starts over and over again: something new emerges from the already existing. Old things are combined anew, seemingly logical things dissolve into paradox situations, and, in line with the title, many of the works presented take over a surrogate function.
In analogy with the metaphor of roulette, Anüll’s works are a sarcastic and amusing confrontation with social and political situations, and not so much a critical analysis. Already in his past exhibitions, Anüll focussed on the symbolic meaning of artefacts, their descriptions and their materiality. Visual clichés representing the world of consumer goods are assembled in an installation and thereby demonstrate the inseparability of the world of art and the economic cycle. Anüll frequently uses money bills: in “Change” (1983/84) they point to their past and golden days of their origin: the bank. And in another instance the delicate line structure of bank notes resembles confetti on a paper collage or it is transformed into black money (nomen est omen) by being retouched with dark colours. Anüll’s work aims at evoking associations through feel, icons, specific colouring and the targeted use of materials. On account of the simple and understandable insinuations of his rebus-like riddles, the onlooker is easily capable of visually decoding his work.
The artist uses numerous types of media: paper collages, photos, and panel painting are presented both as a series, as individual pieces or as installations. The nonchalant arrangement of his earlier and later works is impressive. On the upper floor, videos are projected on the “Duvees Deluxe”. In contrast to the superposed sound track they radiate what the society of the protagonist in the videos reject: blandness, warmth and security. As visitors we look at the projections of urban outside views and wander in the dark through the almost intimate interior space. We are turned into voyeurs and gaze at things from which we would otherwise avert our eyes.
In the next room, Ian Anüll offers an insight into his enviable collection of art records and the coatroom is turned into a record store, where one can purchase an Anüll-Multiple or listen to the music of the band “Embryo”, who will perform at the Zurich Wasserkirche on March 30. Later that evening, Ian Anüll and Sven Schneider from the Berlin “Klub der Republik” will perform behind the turntable.
By Marianne Wagner
Helmhaus Zürich
8001 Zurich, Limmatquai 31
Tel: +41 1 251 61 77
Fax: +41 1 261 56 72
www.helmhaus.org
Opening hours: Tue – Sun 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. , Thu 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Startgalerie im Museum auf Abruf
Doroteya Petrova
05.03.10 – 01.04.10
Small-sized
It is rare that the depictions in the folder accompanying the exhibition are larger than the originals. And sure enough, the paintings by the young Bulgarian artist (born 1982) are not larger than ten or fifteen centimetres in height and width.
But the works are only small-sized in a literal, but not in a metaphorical sense. Despite their pale shades of colour and their clearly contoured but never obvious form or shape, these tiny pieces of art radiate a huge effect – even if one stands at such a distance that makes it is impossible to recognize anything; this is undoubtedly due to their beautiful mattes and the remarkable hanging. The attention to detail is obvious. The artist uses delicate tones of white and only vaguely perceptible shadows. Without leaving the world of figurativeness, the works, made with Indian ink, pencil, coloured pencil and aquarelles, captivate through their quality as abstract compositions.
Seemingly incidental objects such as leaves or clothing or nondescript delicate figures populate these paintings, which, in addition to their beauty – thanks to their fragment-like openness - also offer an impulse to a chain of ideas.
One can only hope that Petrova’s art with its unbelievably unspectacular style will not be overlooked and receive the recognition it deserves.
By Wolfgang Pichler
Startgalerie im Museum auf Abruf
1010 Vienna, Felderstrasse 6-8, next to the Town Hall
www.musa.at
Opening hours: Tue, Wed, Fri, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., Thu 11 a.m. – 8 p.m., Sat 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Wien Museum Karlsplatz
Madness & Modernity – Art and Craze in Vienna around 1900
21.01.10 – 02.05.10
Quiet days in Steinhof
This exhibition was originally designed for the Wellcome Collection in London as a presentation on medical history. It is the outcome of a research project conducted over forty years by numerous scientists. During the course of this time, a draft design of Otto Wagner’s Steinhof church as well as an advertisement for the Sanatorium Steinhof surfaced, as did the original furniture and historic photographs of the Sanatorium Purkersdorf by Josef Hoffmann.
Now all of these objects are in Vienna and most international researchers are familiar with them - and the Narrenturm (Fool’s Tower), and the Josephinum (which doesn’t really have much in common with mental illness), and Franz Xaver Messerschmidt’s busts, which were exhibited in 1907 by the Hagenbund group of Austrian artists and became important inspirations for the Viennese Modernity. There is a Freud Museum in Vienna (and also in London), and despite the fact that Freud is not meant to be in the centre of attention (doesn’t he have quite a lot to do with the subject?), some of the figurines from Freud’s writing table as well as one of his carpets are also presented at this exhibition.
The assortment is very selective, with prominent case studies from the Sanatorium Steinhof which include Peter Altenberg, with excursions to Schiele’s, Kokoschka’s and Max Oppenheimer’s paintings on insanity, with two examples of artists, which were later attributed to Art Brut, and ultimately with little new information. However, the connection to some architectural works, e.g. a replica of the Knize shop by Adolf Loos located in downtown Vienna, remains completely incomprehensible.
By Iris Meder
Wien Museum Karlsplatz
1040 Vienna, Karslplatz
Tel: +43 1 505 87 47 – 0
Fax: +43 1 505 87 47 – 7201
www.wienmuseum.at
Opening hours: Tue – Sun 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Galerie Elisabeth Michitsch
Afterimage – Young Austrian Painting
03.03.10 – 10.04.10
Painting with ladders
Naturally, painting is a bogeyman, a falsification of space on a surface, something that has not only burdened the Art History Museum (KHM) but also many other museums. The problem for artists is the already painted painting as well as the examples of proven and scrutinized painting. The presentation “Afterimages – Young Austrian Painting” shows three different positions, demands the quick memorisation of all paragons and to be curious if the representatives of the young national artist league are promising.
Olivia Kaiser, Katharina Olschbauer and Stefan Wirnsperger (all younger than 30) studied at the University for Applied Arts in Vienna. What they have in common is the format and the fact that all of their works were painted with bristle brushes; maybe even with a sponge, and Olivia Kaiser also uses crayons – but none of them applied spray, daub, or paste. All the works are real paintings, not older than three years, and radiating confidence and are at the same time delicate – be it through the colourfulness of Olivia Kaiser’s paper works, the casual brush work by Stefan Wirnsberger or the contrast between drawing and surface with references to Matisse in Katharina Olschbaur’s paintings. However, their topics differ considerably. Each artist’s position has distinctive peculiarities. Especially the colouring is unmistakable – Kaiser’s works are motley, Wirnsberger basks in those tones of red primarily used in filmmaking in the 1980’s, and Olschbauer applies boldly illuminated complementary contrasts or occasionally a rich pink. The same can be said about the formal gestus – Kaiser utilizes language committed to the surrealistic ecriture automatique. Wirnsberger depicts men in light summer attire in landscapes, on motorcycles and next to garbage cans.
The splendour of painting takes place in an ambiguous light of dissemination and heritage; instead of, or with, names, which one recognizes from painting to painting, to which one becomes accustomed or which one does not want to do without. An object must be purchased and be resilient before it can be handed on – something that paintings are suitable for; bogeyman is a name for the envy of the others.
By Gesche Heumann
Galerie Elisabeth Michitsch
1010 Vienna, Opernring 7, Mezzanine
Tel: + 43 1 512 83 13
Fax: + 43 1 512 85 25
www.elisabeth-michitsch.at
Opening hours: Mon – Fri 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Sat 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Mehr Texte von translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville
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