VIENNA FOR ART’S SAKE! CONTEMPORARY ART SHOW

Winter Palace

27 February to 31 May 2015

Invitation image

Contemporary Art Show © 2014 Fabrica, Italy

VIENNA FOR ART’S SAKE! CONTEMPORARY ART SHOW

For three months, the exhibition will contrast contemporary art

and exhibition-maker Peter Noever invited thirteen contemporary artists to enter into a

dialogue with thirteen Baroque rooms at the Winter Palace.

The starting point for the show was

Imago Mundi. A collector and connoisseur of contemporary art, this prominent Italian fashion magnate and president of the

Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche, has been inviting established and emerging artists

all over the world to explore in their art a canvas in a postcard format of 10 by 12 cm. Currently, Benetton can boast over 10,000 works from 60 countries in his ever -growing

inventory of contemporary art. In contrast to Imago Mundi hives,

Peter Noever opened up Archive Austria not only to artists but also to architects and designers who live and work in Vienna or who have left behind an important contribution

to the city, regardless of their geographic origins or nationality. The 161 works from

Archive Austria will be presented in the Primary Exhibition in the Sala Terrena at the

Winter Palace from 27 February to 31 May 2015. The thirteen artists from Archive

Austria, who were selected to create installations in thirteen rooms of the state apartment, explore the significance of contemporary artistic production and visualize the

unbroken force of thinkers and visionaries. On display are installations by Vito + Maria

Elena Acconci, Zaha Hadid, Magdalena Jetelová, Michael Kienzer, Hans Kupelwieser, the next ENTERprise, Hermann Nitsch, Eva Schlegel, Kiki Smith, Iv Toshain, Atelier Van

Lieshout, Koen Vanmechelen, and Manfred Wakolbinger.

The exhibition in Vienna is the first to present on a large scale the stature of the artist

personalities behind the postcard format of 10 by 12 cm. Painters, architects, designers, and Conceptual artists faced the challenge of visualizing their artworks in an unusually small

format. Peter Noever then invited artists to nominate other artists, architects, and designers,

A microcosm to which the artists have given

various forms, intense and mysterious [...] arising from a maximum concentration of strokes,

is how Luciano Benetton The 161 works tell

endures that can enhance our happiness; this vivacity of ideas makes our lives, individual and

collective, richer, mor Benetton continues. Luciano Benetton, who cherishes Austria as a traditional centre of art, set out to secure Peter

Noever for

Luciano Benetton was willing to unconditionally accept my

Peter Noever relates about the collaboration.

essential question: how free can the decision be to make art that is itself produced in a state of

market, the gallery, the collector, and the commissioner with clear guidelines. These and other

premises were the true challenge for me when I was first confronted with the present project.

An experiment. And a process with an uncertain outcome. For me, of course, it was about

nothing less than a liberating view, opening up a new perspective on the actual production of

Peter Noever continues.

After Looking Eastward (Russia), Snapshot Romania (Romania) and Iceland/Boiling Ice

(Iceland), Vienn is now the fourth European collection in Imago Mundi. In this

Imago Mundi is philanthropic in nature and aims to present a wide spectrum featuring a maximum number of artists and perspectives in art.

Luciano Benetton

Luciano Benetton is known as one of the most creative, high-profile artminded entrepreneurs

in the world. In 1965, he founded the Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche, which he led to

international success with non-conformistic ideas. During the 1990ies he launched a provocative ad-campaign in cooperation with the now internationally renowned photographer

Oliver Toscani against war or racial discrimination, causing hot debates. With his art project

Imago Mundi he follows a visionary utopic approach, trying to connect the artworld in a 10 x 12 cm postcard format. This idea is based on a philantropic approach, with the goal to represent a maxiumum of artists and positions in the art world in a broader context. In spite of

his worldwide success, Luciano Benetton was permanently striving to nurture the local culture

and architecture in the Veneto region. www.imagomundiart.com

Peter Noever

Designer and internationally successful exhibition creator Peter Noever was artistic director

and CEO at the MAK Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst/Gegenwartskunst in Vienna. In the years from 1988 to 1993 he was responsible for the general rennovation of the museum, inviting prominent international artists like Donald Judd, Günther Förg and Jenny

Holzer. In 1994 he founded the MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles, including 3 future-oriented houses by the Austrian-american architect Rudolph M. Schindler and

initiated the MAK-Schindler-Scholarship at the Mackey Apartments. There have been approximately 520 exhibitions with international susccess. www.noever-design.com

The 13 artists in the exhibition

Vito + Maria Elena Acconci, Zaha Hadid, Magdalena Jetelová, Michael Kienzer, Hans

Kupelwieser, the next ENTERprise, Hermann Nitsch, Eva Schlegel, Kiki Smith, Iv Toshain, Atelier Van Lieshout, Koen Vanmechelen, Manfred Wakolbinger

A PDF of the catalogue is available for download at:

www.belvedere.at/press (login: pr2015)

THE 13 ARTISTS IN THE EXHIBITION

Vito + Maria Elena Acconci Chapel

TURN/BUMP/TURN, 2015

Bubble wrap, steel cable, programmable colored lights, 198 x 345 x 635 cm Planning and implementation: Harald Trapp, Klaus Molterer

- it is just under 3.7 meters long, but 6.9 meters high - designing for this room is particularly challenging. Vito + Maria Elena Acconci have created a

prismatic architecture made of bubble wrap inside the chapel; as a result the existing

ecclesiastical design of the church interior is only indistinctly visible. Based on a quadrangular floor plan, the architectural structure soars, suggesting a diagonal upward movement. Its

polygonal counterpart on the ceiling, causing its irregular layout, adds a further captivating

aspect to the walk- chapel was situated in his private chambers in the rear part of the Palace; it was established at its current location

only later, in around 1752, using the original altar.

Zaha Hadid Bel Étage Terrace

Steel, 227.5 x 72.5 x 627 cm

Design: Zaha Hadid, Patrik Schumacher, project director: Woody Yao, design team: Gerhild

Orthacker, Peter Logan, in collaboration with Zumtobel / Dornbirn

The bel étage

space. During restoration works on the terrace in 2004, workers discovered preparatory drawings for a wall fresco depicting an ancient amphitheater featuring columns, arcades and

stairs. To date, it is not known why the fresco was never completed.

Zaha Hadid has transformed the Euclidian geometries of these historical preparatory drawings

and future, the installation of steel tubes describes a fluid, four-dimensional world defined by

the narrative of abstraction and flow of space. More Einsteinian than Cartesian, it is a world determined by seamless connectivity; a microcosmic extrusion of the dynamism, complexity,

ecture.

Magdalena Jetelová Hall of Battle Paintings

The essential is no longer visible, 2015 Titanium, carbon fiber, projection, sound, 738 x 880 x 1400 cm

In collaboration with Schiebel

The privileged view of the world from above was originally considered the divine perspective;

the fascination with this perspective of an absolute ruler is recognizable. An unmanned

fought by Prince Eugene, which were depicted by Ignace-Jacques Parrocel between 1704 and

-eye view in a divine,

omniscient way painted by the artist, but by means of digital calculations and technology. Jetelová confronts history with the current speeding up of virtual and real life. She examines

our way of looking at the world of art from a new perspective. Reality is the absence of reality.

Michael Kienzer Gallery Room

Vierung, 2014/15 Aluminum, steel, 246 x 314 x 400 cm

A large sculpture fills the Gallery Room, where Prince Eugene once presented parts of his art collection. This abstract sculpture, made of industrial aluminum elements, with its complex

form vocabulary establishes a direct reference to the baroque stateroom and its history. As a

material, aluminum, and in the tension created by the interconnected individual elements. Kienzer considers a

art is a direct response to the baroque room it is placed in. The artist always takes the room, the large cavity, into consideration as a prerequisite of the sculpture - it becomes part of the

sculpture, for the sculpture was designed exclusively for this room.

Hans Kupelwieser Yellow Room

Hütteldorf im Himmelpfort, 2015 Structure made of spruce, neon tubes, 800 x 400 x 300 cm

A structure has sprung up inside the Baroque Room! For his artistic intervention Hans

made of spruce recalls a mountain hut where one may seek refuge - also from the golden

splendor. Kupelwieser causes the baroque abundance to disappear, replacing it with a plain, simple room. Golden rays of light reach into the walk-in wooden sculpture only through a

number of slits deliberately incorporated into the structure; however, details of the

surroundings can no longer be made out. Baroque seems to be very far away. The hut is a political, revolutionary act against the palace.

the next ENTERprise Rosa Room, the Former Second Library Hall

silent conquest, 2015

Object made of heat-sealed Complain foil, filled with air and water, covered by a textile net (45 mm meshes, Ø 3 mm diagonally), spotlight, fragrance, 450 x 450 x 120 160 cm

Fragrance created by: Yogesh Kumar, www.dasparfum.com

Lighting concept: Christian Ploderer in cooperation with Lukas Kaltenbeck Object produced by: Plecherplanen, www.plecher.at; Haanl, www.haanl.at

the next ENTERprise-architects

A large, black-blue object occupies the Rosa Room, the former second library hall. The

intervention relates to its baroque surroundings in deliberately ambivalent ways: on the one

hand the object seems like a foreign object landed in the center of the room; on the other hand its haptic characteristics enable visitors to interact playfully with each other and with the

room. If touched by visitors, the object, filled with air and water, transforms these touches into

reflections of light that create an interactive painting on the ceiling. The installation, which also

qualities, its proportions as well as its use of light engage all the senses to counteract the representative architecture of the Baroque

Hermann Nitsch State Bedroom

Vorbereitung zu einer Aktion, 2015 Installation, 115 x 909 x 687 cm

long table has been laid in white; there are glasses, two-liter bottles of wine, stretchers, and

buckets with paint residues. The long sidewall has been covered by a white cloth; a manifesto

and ideas. In front of the cloth the recording of an action performed by Nitsch during the 2012

Havana Biennial, interspersed with parts of an interview given this winter, is projected onto a

wooden wall. The projection marks the spot on the wall where the pig that is to be eviscerated will hang. The score for the intervention at the Winter Palace can be seen in a showcase; a

relic (a gown used for painting) is on display on the sidewall. On Pentecost Nitsch will stage a

Pentecost reception in the exhibition room, where he will serve his own wine to visitors.

Eva Schlegel Conference Room

Untitled (conference table), 2015

Steel, lead, pigment, 670 x 70 x 70 cm

The cruciform table/sculpture inside the former Conference Room all but denies visitors

access to the room. In her work Schlegel refers to the concepts associated with a conference

table: talks, discourse, and the juxtaposition of different arguments. The dull lead coating of

metal points to weapons, ammunition, and war, which were essential for making such lavish

décor in a baroque setting possible in the first place. The surface is covered with quotes by Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu (c. 544 496 BC) and Prince Eugene, written with blood-red

ceiling by Peter Strudel: Der Sieg der Gerechtigkeit über den ungerechten Herrscher (The

Victory of Justice over the Unjust Ruler).

Kiki Smith Green Room

Girl with white blankets, 1998 2014 Fine silver (figure), bronze (base), about 52.7 x 27.9 x 14 cm

Silkscreen ink on patch work quilted cotton, each 170 x 159 cm

Courtesy Pace Gallery, New York

The silver figure of a girl with feathers in her hands (Girl) stands on a base in the room. This

poetic work of art is situated in the former Library Room of Prince Eugene, whose comprehensive collection of books laid the foundations for the Austrian National Library. For

years Kiki Smith has been exploring the relation of the natural and the intellectual or spiritual

world in her works. She draws attention to the creaturely nature of human beings with their moral concepts and animalistic instincts, but also their spiritual and intellectual needfulness;

with White Blankets, a work featuring ink drawings of birds on white blankets. On the one hand, the blankets evoke the innocence of sleep; on the other hand, the black birds exude a

menacing and ominous air.

Iv Toshain Antechamber

NOMOS BASILEUS, 2015 Stainless steel, chrome, sandblast, aluminum, neon, Ø 250 cm (morning star)

oversized morning star that symbolizes Venus, the evening star, and Lucifer. The installation

has replaced the valuable crystal chandelier, which currently lies on the floor, deprived of its

(the law is king) is written in neon letters. Toshain refers to a text on the deeds of Hercules by

the poet Pindar (518-446 BC). The words nomos, acc

point to the law and violence, the historical and present constant of war. These words constitute a formula for the very focal point bequeathed to Western political thinking - in a

democracy, the law rules. However, if you walk around the morning star, NOMOS BASILEUS

becomes BASILEUS NOMOS (the king is the law).

Atelier Van Lieshout Red Room

Mechanical Turk, 2015 Steel, 195 x 112 x 240 cm

Atelier Van Lieshout, Courtesy Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna

The sieges of the city of Vienna by the Ottoman army have gone down in Austrian history as

the First and Second Turkish Siege of Vienna (in 1529 and 1683). Not least, Prince Eugene

won the decisive Battle of Zenta against the Ottoman Turks. To date there is a gap in research on the Ottoman view of Austria and the Habsburg era. Van Lieshout (re-)constructs this view

by means of his installation Mechanical Turk, which confronts visitors with an imaginary

perspective of the former enemy in English. The work rechess automaton invented by the Austro-Hungarian court official Wolfgang von Kempelen

(1734-1804). In fact, a person was hidden inside the device. The Mechanical Turk is an

automaton that represents a symbiosis of man and machine.

Koen Vanmechelen Dining Hall

Protected Paradise - C.C.P., 2015

Macaws, corn, glass house, wood, neon, 150.3 x 54.3 x 22.4 cm

Dining Hall; the room contains a large, industrial aviary where two blue-and-gold macaws live.

Koen Vanmechelen addresses the issue of the contrast between culture (Baroque) and nature (birds). Inside the artistic-artificial space of the Winter Palace, only a domesticated kind of

nature can be found, inside a cage. Prince Eugene already had a menagerie of exotic animals

and birds. Koen Vanmechelen establishes a direct connection of our present, the endangered

protected, but also a closed-off and endangered paradise.

Manfred Wakolbinger Gold Cabinet

Forces (Highrise), 2014 Steel, aluminum, 283 x 325 x 87 cm

Galaxies #1 4, 2012 2015 Each 6.13 min, Loop, HD

Animation: Philipp Leissing, sound score: Christian Fennesz

A projectile seems to be hurtling through the Gold Cabinet; at the same time Manfred

and hard, while its form hints at sensuality and softness. This irritating discrepancy relates to

features underwater creatures (pelagic sea squirts), thus referring to the fact that life

originated in water, to a paradisiacal nature, and at the same time to the cycle of life and death. The video enters into a dialog with the heavenly putti and the flowers of the painting on

the ceiling. The sound track was written by avant-garde musician Christian Fennesz.

LIST OF ARTISTS

Vienna for Art’s Sake! 161 Artists of Archive Austria

Vito + Maria Elena Acconci Uli Aigner

Gerry Ammann

Elena Ascari Christian Ludwig Attersee

Alfredo Barsuglia

Friedrich Biedermann Sabine Bitter & Helmut Weber

Reinhard Blum

Johanna Braun Gilbert Bretterbauer

Sergej Bugaev Afrika

CHRISTO Hermann Czech

Gunter Damisch

Matias del Campo Delugan Meissl Associated Architects

Hernan Diaz Alonso

Lui Dimanche Andreas Donhauser

Veronika Drahotová

Georg Driendl Heinrich Dunst

Nathalie Du Pasquier

Gregor Eichinger Raha Farazmand

Marina Faust

Didier Faustino Tone Fink

Heinz Frank

Padhi Frieberger Gab/Mer (Gábor Bachman)

Gab/Mer (Meral Yasar)

Frank O. Gehry Sara Glaxia

Beka Goedde

Chris Goennawein Dorothee Golz

Franz Graf Gregor Graf

Sophie Grell

Harald Gründl (EOOS Design) Helmuth Gsöllpointner

Johann Georg Gsteu

Zaha Hadid Florian Hafele

Heiri Häfliger

Aglaia Haritz Zvi Hecker

Kurt Hentschläger

Roger Herman Yuki Higashino

Benjamin Hirte

Richard Hoeck Edgar Honetschläger

Michael Höpfner

Fred Jellinek Magdalena Jetelová

Brookhart Jonquil

Franka Kaßner Milli Kaufmann

Herwig Kempinger

Michael Kienzer Peter Kogler

Rebecca Kolsrud

Zenita Komad Elisabeth Kopf

Willi Kopf

Julia Körner Kasper Kovitz

Elena Kovylina

Brigitte Kowanz Doris Krüger & Walter Pardeller

Elke Krystufek

Christoph A. Kumpusch Hans Kupelwieser

Helmut Lang

Sonia Leimer Andrea Lenardin Madden

Ulrike Lienbacher

Ross Lovegrove Marko Luli

Constantin & Clemens Luser

Greg Lynn Mark Mack

Sandra Manninger

Luiza Margan Ewald Maurer

Thom Mayne

Thomas Traxler

Rudi Molacek

Julie Monaco Janet Olmsted Cross

Eric Owen Moss

Otto Muehl Anca Munteanu Rimnic

Johann Neumeister

Flora Neuwirth next ENTERprise (Marie-Therese Harnoncourt &

Ernst J. Fuchs)

Michael Niemetz Hermann Nitsch

Oswald Oberhuber

PAUHOF (Michael Hofstätter & Wolfgang Pauzenberger)

Gustav Peichl

Roman Pfeffer Franz Pomassl

Wolf D. Prix (COOP HIMMELB(L)AU)

Carl Pruscha Stephanie Rauch

Lucas Reiner

Paul Renner Martyn Reynolds

Franz Riedl

Paul Ritter Alexis Rochas

David Roth

Charly Roussel Constanze Ruhm

Peter Sandbichler

Martina Schettina Alfons Schilling

Kristina Schinegger & Stefan Rutzinger

Eva Schlegel Hubert Schmalix

Ferdinand Schmatz

Anneliese Schrenk Vera Sebert

Elfie Semotan

Nicole Six & Paul Petritsch Kiki Smith

Bernhard Sommer

Marcelo Spina Béatrice Stähli

Rudi Stanzel

Station Rose (Elisa Rose & Gary Danner) Kamen Stoyanov

Gabriele Sturm

Helmut Swiczinsky Michael Szivos

Linda Taalman

tat ort (Alexandra Berlinger & Wolfgang Fiel) TEAM[:]niel (Veronika Bayer, Daniel &

Claudia Feyerl)

Anthony Titus Iv Toshain

Josef Trattner

Gerhard Treml Iké Udé

Atelier Van Lieshout

Koen Vanmechelen Manfred Wakolbinger

Martin Walde

Walking Chair (Karl Emilio Pircher & Fidel Peugeot)

Adam Wehsely-Swiczinsky

Hans Weigand Markus Wilfling

Matthew Wilkinson

Hiro Yamagata Giulio Zanet

Dragan Zivadinov

Heimo Zobernig Antoinette Zwirchmayr

GENERAL INFORMATION Exhibition Title

Contemporary Art Show

Exhibition Duration 27 February to 31 May 2015

Venue Winter Palace

Exhibits 174

Creator Peter Noever

Assistance Axel Köhne

Contact Belvedere, Prinz Eugen-Straße 27, 1030 Vienna T +43 (01) 795 57-0 www.belvedere.at

Opening Hours Daily 10 am to 6 pm

Regular Tickets - (Winter Palace)

Guided Tours T +43 (01) 795 57-134, M public@belvedere.at

Public Relations Belvedere & Winter Palace Public Relations Prinz Eugen-Straße 27, 1030 Vienna T +43 (01) 795 57-177 M press@belvedere.at Complimentary images can be downloaded for press purposes at www.belvedere.at/press (login: pr2015). By request we also provide images of the 161 exhibited artists of the Archive Austria.

With special thanks to Luciano Benetton