Press conference March 5, 2007
Schaurausch - Art in 50 Shop Windows
Press conference March 5, 2007, 12.30 p.m., O.K Centrum für Gegenwartskunst/Großer Saal
An exhibition by the O.K Center for Contemporary Art in cooperation with Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture and the Linzer City Ring
May 11 - June 2, 2007
Curator Paolo Bianchi
Director of the O.K, Curator Martin Sturm
Artistic Director of Linz09Martin Heller
CEO of Passage Linz Werner Prödl
Vice-mayor Dr. Erich Watzl
In 2007, the O.K will open the portals of its Temple of the Muses and dispatch its artists out into downtown Linz’s temples of retailing. 17 years after the “Schaufenster” (shop window) exhibition that Peter Kraml and others initiated in conjunction with the “LinzKunst – KunstLinz” (LinzArt – ArtLinz) project, artists will transform the boutiques and department stores along Landstraße from the Main Square to the Casino into a dynamic gallery of art. Approximately 30 artists from Austria and all over the world will be installing their concepts and visions in 50 display cases, mall passages and on building façades. Extraordinary works, objects, installations, photos and videos will enrich the cityscape with samplings of contemporary art.
The First Project
For Linz09, “Schaurausch” means getting things started in two senses. “On one hand, we’re already beginning in 2007 to whet people’s appetites for 2009 and to put a public face on the Capital of Culture initiative. On the other hand, this exhibition by the O.K Center for Contemporary Art is our first curated collaborative project with one of the city’s most important cultural institutions,” Martin Heller explained.
Art in 50 shop windows constitutes the first part of “Art in the City!!” This trilogy opens up opportunities for other ways of looking at art, and illustrates the extent to which the Capital of Culture year offers chances to change the conventional course that such things normally take and to experiment with new linkups.
Here, suddenly, art is not taking place solely on its own familiar terrain; instead, it’s going forth to new and unusual venues, into an open setting. In shop windows, art exposes itself to a different, more quotidian mode of perception than is the case in a museum. The shopkeepers and members of the sales staffs become mediators of artistic encounters, caring for and displaying their works.
Inherent in the O.K Center’s artistic concept that will be manifest in 2007 in shop windows, in 2008 in cellars and subterranean passageways and, finally, in 2009 upon the rooftops of Linz is a dramaturgy proceeding from below to above – “So Close to Heaven!” – a transitional process that reaches its climax in the Capital of Culture year.
And ultimately, this project bears with it the hope of doing some effective groundwork in this industrial town to make for a light and playful way of dealing with art.
The Exhibition
The artworks being showcased in these shop windows will be accessible 24/7, whereby daytime and nighttime viewing will each have their own distinctly different qualities. A series of spectacular, large-scale projects installed on high-visibility store façades and in the central shopping centers constitute the backbone of the exhibition, doing the necessary job of focusing viewers’ perspectives and irritating preconceived points of view. Strung between them like beads are the individual Schaurausch shops. More than 20 artists have been invited to install 50 projects. Most of the works are new productions, with many of the artists creating a very special work for and/or in Linz. The selection of the artists was made in accordance with the O.K’s criteria designed to establish a dialog between the regional art scene and what’s going on internationally in the art world.
Shop windows as promotional settings are involved in the act of purchasing, whereas shop window art puts the accent purely on the act of viewing. Thematically, several of the artists’ works deal in allusions to the world of commerce and references to the character of things as merchandise, which they present in unaccustomed contexts, newly attired and in other value systems. The shop windows themselves as architectural spaces between interior and exterior also play an essential role.
For three weeks, downtown pedestrians can become boulevard flâneurs and experience a viewing spree. We’re sending local residents, passers-by, consumers and tourists off on an artistic journey of discovery. “Schaurausch” contains the word aura, which designates the charisma of a person, a place or a work of art. Whoever beholds these windows beholds the emergence of the aura of the things themselves.
The Collaborating Partners
We attribute the same importance to the exhibitors as we do to our collaborating partners: 50 businesses—from individual retailers to shopping malls—that are placing their window display cases at the disposal of art for three weeks. No shop windows, no shop window art. The selection process is the responsibility of the two O.K. exhibition organizers, and will be the outcome of an intensive process of communication on site with the artists and each individual business partner. Thus, an exciting excursion across the boundaries of sectors and roles will take place as businesspeople and curators discuss the difference between contemporary art and advertising. But that’s not all: sales girls become art mediators and passers-by are transformed into exhibition visitors. What’s being nurtured here is a sustainable process that will remain operational beyond the three-week duration of the installation.
The Private Sector
For the private sector, this concept is a test run to see right up close just how well such joint ventures in a cultural context can function. Getting the downtown business community involved makes possible close encounters with culture en passant so to speak, which, in turn, whets consumers’ appetite for more.
For Dr. Erich Watzl, Linz city councilman in charge of cultural affairs, this concept dovetails with three very high-priority items on his cultural policymaking agenda:
• Stimulating cultural and economic life in a way that’s based on a partnership of equals.
• Art and culture are presented in the public sphere in locations that are out-of-the-ordinary as far as mediating the encounter with art is concerned. This, in turn, opens up possibilities of reaching new audiences.
• Cooperation on the part of an important cultural institution (O.K), downtown businesses and Linz09.
The Audience
The “Schaurausch” exhibition will reach a highly diversified audience from the city, the outlying region, other parts of Austria and abroad. But it also targets students (elementary and intermediate schools, art colleges, universities) since an important aspect of the exhibition’s mission is to provide a sort of training for the way we see and to sharper our view of our surroundings.
The Publication
In May, we’ll be bringing out a “Schaurausch Exhibition Guide” documenting the individual works of art as well as the exhibition venues (i.e. the stores). The texts will be laid out in user-friendly fashion using a specially developed 3-30-3 method: 3 seconds of intro/orientation, 30 seconds to get an overview, and 3 minutes to go a bit deeper into a particular topic. The individual locations and shop windows are depicted in their pre-exhibit state (without the art); the photos of the artworks will then be supplied, and can be pasted onto the appropriate spot.
The Curators
“Assembling an exhibition is like shopping. We make out our wish-list, check the prices, and select the items we can afford in order to arrange them all in a way that achieves the best possible effect.” Paolo Bianchi and Martin Sturm
Paolo Bianchi (born 1960) is a freelance exhibition organizer and guest editor of the magazine “Kunstforum International.” He lives in Baden bei Zürich, Switzerland.
Martin Sturm (born 1960) is the director of the O.K Center for Contemporary Art.
The Artists and the Art Projects
The curatorial selection process has aimed to strike a balance between big, spectacular projects on one hand and subtle interventions on the other.
• Among the exhibition’s large-scale projects are several works by Stefan Sagmeister, a native of the Austrian Province of Vorarlberg and one of the shooting stars of the international graphic arts scene. One adorning the façade above the Linz Casino will feature a line of text: “Money does not make me happy.” Another will cover the entire front of the Douglas Perfume Shop with an entry from the artist’s diary. The distinctive aesthetic style of his blow-ups featuring text messages perfectly imitates the language of advertising without actually being advertising.
• The obsessive use of books in the works of Spanish artist Alicia Martín is quite deliberate. From out of a round reading window of the Thalia Bookshop, there flows a 12-meter-high waterfall of knowledge in the form of a gigantic stream of books. The seemingly disrespectful treatment accorded the individual volumes and their concrete content undergoes a spatial-dynamic compression as a mighty deluge of material.
In addition to international stars, representatives of the regional art scene have also been invited to showcase their creative talents.
• Elfie Semotan is both: Doyenne of international fashion photographers and, as a native of Vorchdorf, a regional artist. For the “Schaurausch” exhibition, she did not select her subjects from among supermodels like Claudia Schiffer; instead, she chose sales girls from Linz shops. These images will be on display in 2½-meter-tall illuminated display cases in the empty shopping passage beneath the Casino. According to Semotan, the salesgirls weren’t shot in a way that makes them come across as amateurish advertising models but rather as “urban types.”
• Prof. Renate Herter’s class in Sculpture_Transmedial Space at the Art University Linz is represented by seven projects.
• One of the most interesting up-and-coming young artists in Upper Austria is Claudia Czimek, who takes worthless things and makes one-of-a-kind and even precious objects out of them, objects that endow things with a brilliant luster as if they were part of a baroque cabinet of curiosities. Here, no merchandise goes to waste; everything has a collector’s value. As public art figure in the display windows of the C&A department store, she adapts an extremely diverse array of everyday wares to her conceptions and fantasies. Before the eyes of passers-by, junk undergoes a material resurrection.
On the other hand, installation artist and sculptor Martin Dickinger is a duplicator, one who generates and accumulates in an immense mass what he’s seen, imagined and found. The upshot is a parallel world of papier-mâché that does indeed have a few things in common with the real world of merchandise but, first and foremost, rebels against it.
The point of departure of a series of works is the thematic encounter with the world of consumption and retail wares.
• Hilde Kentane, a Belgian living in Basel, targets modern throwaway society. The artist collects plastic bags and packaging, and processes them into three-dimensional animal objects. Colorful, well-fed rats and fat, truffle-sniffing pigs are models for sculptural creations that correspond to the casual, disrespectful way we deal with the world of retail merchandise.
• Laura Kikauka is a Canadian native who lives in Berlin. This self-styled techno-nymph and professional hobbyist amasses consumer goods that were once highly prized as the height of fashion. She combines them, breathes new life into them, and invites the public to share in the humor and tragedy of their “failed ambitions.” Her works reveal the absurdities, paradoxes and ironic aspects of everyday life. She’ll be setting up her “shop” in the display window of Baumgartner’s fabric store.
• In her work “Fundos” (backgrounds), Brazilian artist Lucia Koch uses photographic images from packaging material to create spatial illusions. The digital prints she applies to the shop windows deceive the eye and its perception of space. When the photo arrangement is the same size as the shop window, photographic space and architectural space are superimposed. The façade of Schachermayer draws observers into it; it gives rise to a feeling of being able to physically enter into the display space. Closer inspection dispels the illusion and allows the observer to recognize coated cardboard containers for foodstuffs like noodles, orange juice and milk.
Schaurausch Action Day
Friday, May 11, 2007 beginning at 6:30 PM
Coinciding with Linz’s Long Night of Shopping, artistic actions and performances in the shop windows will be staged for downtown visitors.
The Schaurausch concert is set for 7 PM. In preparation for it, performer/composer Elisabeth Schimana conducted acoustic field research in the malls and avenues of Linz’s downtown shopping district. She’ll present her temple music at a live performance in the Ursuline Church.
Artists
Claudia Czimek (AT)
Martin Dickinger (AT)
Peng Hung-Chih (Taiwan)
Simone Eberli /Andrea Mantel (CH)
Eoos (AT)
Sylvie Fleury (CH)
Susy Gómez (ES)
Alfred Haberpointner (AT)
Hilde Kentane (BE/CH)
Laura Kikauka (CA)
Lucia Koch (BR)
Lena Lapschina (AT)
Michael Lin (Taiwan/FR)
Alicia Martín (ES)
Andrea Pesendorfer (AT)
Ella Raidel (AT)
Stefan Sagmeister (AT/US)
Elfie Semotan (AT/US)
Christoph Steinbrener / Rainer Dempf (AT)
Marion Strunk (CH)
Bildhauerei_transmedialer Raum, Kunstuniversität Linz:
Christa Aistleitner / Daniela Pesendorfer (AT)
Miguel Gonzalez (AT)
Katharina Lackner (AT)
Rainer Nöbauer (AT)
Wolfgang Tragseiler/ Noemi Auer (AT)
Lina Vargas (CO/AT) / Georg Schobert (AT) / Wolfgang Bretter (AT)
Ursula Walchhofer (AT)
Roland Wegerer (AT)
Shops and Locations
01 Hauptplatz
02 Tourist Information
03 Arcotel Nike
04 Sportalm Kitzbühel
05 Bluma
06 Bilder Prat GmbH
07 Allgemeine Sparkasse OÖ
08 Buchhandlung W. Neugebauer
09 Schachermayer
10 Geier Optik
11 Stoff Baumgartner
12 Neuf
13 Arkade
14 Ruby
15 Don Grande
16 Bellissima la Moda
17 Rosa Vogl Coiffeur
18 Hackl Lederwaren
19 Raiffeisenlandesbank OÖ
20 Kürmayr Schuhmode
21 Ursulinenkirche
22 Reisewelt GmbH
23 Xanaka
24 Esprit
25 Skribo
26 Peek & Cloppenburg
27 Leder Hausmann
28 Hervis Sportund Mode GmbH
29 Passage Linz
30 Eiler Schuhmode
31 Walter Drogerie
32 Fotolabor Fotopia
33 Horn Danceschool
34 Bilder Eigl
35 Veritas Buch- und Kunsthandlung
36 Reno Schuhe
37 C&A Mode
38 Oberbank
39 Furtner Juwelier
40 Thalia Buch- & Medien GmbH
41 Schiefer Berufsmode
42 Douglas
43 Mühlberger Mode GmbH
44 Penz Mode
45 Landa – Kinder-, Baby und Umstandsmode
46 Berndorfer Fußklinik
47 Casinos Austria Fassade
48 Blumen Studio Bauer
49 Austria Trend Hotel Schillerpark
50 Casinos Austria Passage
The project partners
O.K Centrum für Gegenwartskunst
Direktor: Martin Sturm
www.ok-centrum.at
Projektleiter: Rainer Jessl
LInz 2009 Kulturhauptstadt Europas OrganisationsGmbH
Intendant: Martin Heller
www.linz09.at
Linzer City Ring
Management: Hildegard Weber
www.linzer-city.at
Gallery
