translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville,
110213: Künstlerhaus Wien - Time(less) drawing– Contemporary art in reference to Otto Neurath
Künstlerhaus Wien
Time(less) drawing– Contemporary art in reference to Otto Neurath
13.12.2012 – 17.02.2013
Otto at the traffic lights
By Iris Meder
Over the past few years, Otto Neurath - born 130 years ago – has had a fascinating hold over artists and academics. Publications and exhibitions have dealt with different aspects of Neurath pictorial statistics, from the pictogram art exhibition "The Loneliness of the Drawing" in the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, to the Neurath retrospective "Gypsy Urbanism" in the Museum for Applied Arts. Now, Maria Christine Holter and Barbara Höller have curated an exhibition in the Künstlerhaus devoted to the theme of contemporary art under the aspect of the drawing.
The anticipation of physical structures, precisely every rational, short imagery that earmarks Neurath's isotypes, is circumvented on entering the exhibition: monotone beeps bug you on the right – and if you turn to the left instead, you hear an agitated, screaming woman's voice.
The exhibition, which, besides contemporary art, also presents graphics by Neurath/Arntz, approaches its many-layered theme by means of being arranged in seven chapters. For example, "Sprachrohr" (voice) is concerned with socio-political matters and "Welt Macht" (world power) refers to consumption, capital and power. What definitely conforms to Neurath's humanistic approach - the artistic works turn out partly to be rather one-dimensional. Some remain incomprehensible as far as their intention is concerned, above all in the chapter “Zahlen Feld” (number field) – for instance, the graphic description of the colour of the artist's shirt which forms itself in a film-loop synchronized with the aforementioned beep, or a diagrammatic description of the results of the 1971 general election.
More conclusive is the chapter "Stadt Gebiet (city zone) with associations to architecture and urbanism. For example, Christian Rupp's stock market rate - portrayed in big dipper animation - is charming, as is Michael Bielicky's allegedly controllable, wall-filling catastrophe game and his Prague "traffic light hacking" with manipulated traffic light men. How would Neurath have liked that?
Künstlerhaus Wien
1010 Wien, Karlsplatz 5
Tel: +43 1 587 96 63
http://www.k-haus.at
Opening times: daily from 10-18 hours
110213
Künstlerhaus Wien
1010 Wien, Karlsplatz 5
Tel: +43 1 587 96 63
Email: office@k-haus.at
http://www.k-haus.at
Öffnungszeiten: täglich 10-18 h, Mi + Fr 10-22 h
Künstlerhaus Wien
1010 Wien, Karlsplatz 5
Tel: +43 1 587 96 63
Email: office@k-haus.at
http://www.k-haus.at
Öffnungszeiten: täglich 10-18 h, Mi + Fr 10-22 h