translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville,
180515: La Biennale di Venezia: 56th Venice Biennale – Austrian Pavilion: Heimo Zobernig
La Biennale di Venezia
56th Venice Biennale – Austrian Pavilion: Heimo Zobernig
08.05.2015 - 22.11.2015
Next to nothing
By Johanna Hofleitner
The work that Heimo Zobernig developed for the Austrian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale has a magnitude of 11.5 x 25 metres which corresponds to the length and breadth of the inside of the pavilion, thus stretching this room to the absolute maximum. Additionally, it uses the entire height right up to the crown by incorporating both the floor and the ceiling. Nevertheless, it may be good that unprepared visitors see next to nothing or at best, register five simple, white benches which are situated parallel to the side walls, thus reminding one of the usual seating accommodation prevalent in museums or other exhibition rooms.
But perhaps they set one on the track of the monumental black sculpture composed of several parts which Heimo Zobernig has, so to speak, built into the Pavilion. Perhaps they divert the glance to the floor which, emanating from the central – white – middle support stretches on the same level like a theatre stage on both sides to the walls, thus turning the room into a stage and consequently, the visitors, into actors.
But the installation blocks the view towards what is behind it –to the now concealed terminal round arches between the pillars which are around the continuous row of windows or the staircase leading down from the middle support, all subtle gestures of power and representation with which the architects Josef Hoffmann and Herbert Kramreiter underlaid the modernistic construction.
But even more clearly, they make the transformation of the room into a room for art which, because of the competitive situation of the Biennale, is defined by the social context of the art experiences and the (garden-)architectural surroundings of the Giardini, as well as the garden belonging to the Pavilion (even if the changes to the exit room are only to be understood by insiders). Thus, not only the public, but also the entire room, inclusive of the space between floor and monolith ceiling, become an entire element, a simple and at the same time complex sculpture which not only formally integrated the dimension of the exhibition Pavilion and its surroundings, but also thematically.
La Biennale di Venezia
30122 Venezia, Giardini della Biennale
http://www.labiennale.org/
Opening hours: daily 10 - 18 hours, closed on Mondays
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180515
Österreichischer Pavillon - La Biennale di Venezia
30122 Venezia, Giardini della Biennale
https://www.biennalekneblscheirl.at
Öffnungszeiten: täglich 11 - 19 h, Fr, Sa bis 20 h,
Montag geschlossen außer 25/07, 15/08, 5/09, 19/09, 31/10, 21/11
Österreichischer Pavillon - La Biennale di Venezia
30122 Venezia, Giardini della Biennale
https://www.biennalekneblscheirl.at
Öffnungszeiten: täglich 11 - 19 h, Fr, Sa bis 20 h,
Montag geschlossen außer 25/07, 15/08, 5/09, 19/09, 31/10, 21/11