NIEDEROESTERREICH
Twilight Zone - Art hits Desing at KUNSTRAUM NIEDEROESTERREICH
Gilbert Bretterbauer
Installationsansicht, 2008
Foto: Thomas Wrede
Twilight Zone - Art hits Desing
KUNSTRAUM NIEDEROESTERREICH
Herrengasse 13
1010 Vienna
Austria
Phone: +4319042111
Fax: +4319042112
Contact:
office@kunstraum.net
TUES – FRI 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
THU 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.
SAT 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
09 05 2009 - 27 06 2009
Artists: Gilbert Bretterbauer, Matali Crasset, Hermann Czech, EOOS,
____fabrics interseason, Werner Feiersinger, Heinz Frank, Konstantin Grcic,
Donald Judd, Luisa Kasalicky, Hans Kupelwieser, Lazar Lyutakov, Miriam
Laussegger, Manuela Mark, Claudia Märzendorfer, Bjarne Melgaard, Philipp
Messner, David Moises, Flora Neuwirth, Oswald Oberhuber, Dennis Oppenheim,
Walter Pichler, POLKA, PRINZGAU/podgorschek, Joe Scanlan, Zbynĕk Sekal,
Barbara Visser, Lawrence Weiner, Heimo Zobernig
Curators: Edek Bartz and Krüger & Pardeller
The exhibition TWILIGHT ZONE at Kunstraum Niederoesterreich focuses on the
gray area between art and design. Fascinated by the phenomenon that art is
occasionally declared an object of use, the curators locate a sort of
counter-movement to Duchamp's Readymade, giving a basic commodity the status
of art.
Artists' and designers' positions, both current and historical, address the
tension between autonomous sculpture and functionality that has been subject
to constant transformation since Minimal Art. Through the architecture of
the exhibition, individual aspects of this discourse will be made tangible.
Musealization of basic commodities
On a shelf that divides the room, reminiscent of presentations in design
museums, the works of artists like Joe Scanlan or Flora Neuwirth are
prominently presented and not to be touched, although they entertain the
idea of utility. On the other hand, works of Donald Judd or Lawrence Wiener
that were designed to be fully functional furniture are increasingly
divested of any usage, an auratization, which is also addressed by Barbara
Visser in her photographic work.
The everyday suitability of art
One section of the exhibition space serves as a lounge or sitting area,
where art objects become usable; here one can seat oneself on one of Gilbert
Bretterbauer's rugs or make oneself comfortable on PRINZGAU/podgorschek's
chairs. The table, created by Walter Pichler, invites the visitor for a
read, and the light is provided by lamps made out of plastic plates from
discount shops by the young Bulgarian artist Lazar Lyutakov, also making a
reference to the economic spectrum between mass-market design and luxury
objects.
The desire to be classified
Sculptural objects, such as the works of designer Matali Crasset reminiscent
of seating furniture, stem from the vocabulary of everyday forms without
honoring their use-value. Installations like the one from fashion designer
____fabrics interseason, a textile wall covering, suggestive of a tiled
kitchen corner, or Luisa Kaslicky's installation made from a mix of
prefabricated building materials and décor, play with the conventions of
seeing and prompt a questioning of the usual categories, which are based on
ideas regarding the usability and functionality of objects.