MUSEUM OF THE UNDERWORLDS IN THE OK

The cultural-historical portion of the exhibition curated by Brigitte Felderer

A Museum of the Underworlds has been installed in the OK’s exhibition spaces in conjunction with Tiefenrausch. This portion of the exhibition dedicated to the history of culture has been curated by Brigitte Felderer. On display are rare and valuable documents, objects and works of art that illustrate the underworld’s long cultural history. Human conquest of Earth’s subterranean realm is still subject to technical limitations, and our conception of the world below us is only slightly determined by the possibilities technological progress affords. To this day, the deepest holes drilled by man penetrate hardly more than 12 kilometers into the Earth’s crust. Rather, our familiarity with the underworld is the result of a long history of fascination.

The exhibition includes representations of hells—both mythic and mundane—as well as images of Purgatory as perceived by a wide variety of artists. Damnation, the Last Judgment, the descent into Hell, the flight from the underworld and conveyance into Hades have been visually branded into the collective consciousness and remain inseparably linked with the depth psychology of the modern individual.

A social substratum that has unfolded beneath the superficial veneers of convention and under the pressure of prevailing circumstances is displayed critically in early photographs. But these aren’t the only counter-worlds placed on public viewing; the depths of nature as romantic retreats are also set out for all to see. Representations of famous cave landscapes offered romantic backdrops to flights of the soul by men and women of the 18th and 19th centuries.
In the 18th century, mine engineering and scientific geology became exemplary projects of the Enlightenment, ones that went on to assume dimensions that had been unattained until them by any such secular approaches to the underworld. Even the early 20th century witnessed the design of artistic projects such as the one that imagined a tower of knowledge insinuating itself into the Earth’s core. The conquest of the underworld and the undersea domain continued to be regarded as heroic undertakings in progressive visions driven by faith in technology.
Objects from private and public collections, artistic projects as well as multimedia installations document the history of this culture of the underworld and the human fascination with it, and which is also being staged in rock-hard, real-life realms within the Linz city limits during the summer of 2008. Visitors will be able to experience these technical and romantic visions, horrifying images of social descent as well as the mythical power of subterranean worlds up-close-and-personal in the OK’s exhibition spaces.

Upon entering the Museum of the Underworlds, one is immediately confronted by a wall-mounted artwork by Markus Pillhofer, who is also responsible for the design of the museum’s other rooms. This crooked, tilted “countervailing object” closes off a long, narrow passageway and, at the same time, provides entree to the subterranean domains on exhibit. The Museum of the Underworlds undertakes a fundamental investigation of the significance of the spaces of the imagination that, although situated at such close proximity, are not so easily accessible as one might think. The various different finds discovered during the process of shedding light on this history of fascination document the significance of the underworld as a central point of orientation in our understanding of the world.

Curator: Brigitte Felderer
Exhibition Designer: Markus Pillhofer