Michael Kienzer vs Markus Wilfling
17 Nov 2009 - 15 Jan 2010
MICHAEL KIENZER VS MARKUS WILFLING
Opening Tuesday 17.11.2009, 7-10 pm / 19:00 - 22:00 Uhr
Duration through 15.01.2010
Introduction: Florian Steininger
On behalf of VIENNA ART WEEK 2009
For his works, which have been assigned with numerous awards, MICHAEL KIENZER utilizes all kinds of media; his objects, installations and drawings display different approaches to space, time, plains, density, materiality, copy and original. His sculptural interventions are mostly site-specific and deal with the means of the existing space.
Almost incidentally, two aluminium boards suspended accross the room, only supported by each other and the walls, point out the effect of physical power and eventually alter the observer’s view by modifying a structure that appears unshiftable to begin with. Most of Kienzer’s work that takes place in public or semi-public areas invites spectators to participate. An accessible room constructed with 30 doors was part of the sculptures series „Out Site“ at MUMOK in Vienna. A communicative artwork, as he calls it, where the spectator enters an interspace. In one of his latest installations called „hanging around“ at the Bruno Kreisky Park he attaches hammocks between the trees, a gesture that emphasizes the „in between“ and makes it perceptible and experienceable. It is also in this work that he is using the principles of suspending and interlacing for construction. One can find this concept even more strongly in his sculptures where wires, pipes and ropes are tangled into inextricable lumps. The mixture of materials brings out their various features - smoothness and roughness, flexibility and stiffness – and how they influence each other. In Michael Kienzer ́s work, the material itself is of major importance. He often uses intermediate goods such as wires, boards made of glass or aluminium, poles, ropes, elastic straps but also every day objects like adhesive tape, cans, bottles, rubbers etc. However, those materials are never used in terms of Ready-Made. His objects appear or are new, untreated, they neither bear traces nor contain a story and exhibit a pure presence in their particular function. In his compositions though, the traditional circumstances, the „order“ and the forces are being verified or even put into question: tape rolls are piled up to a seemingly supportive column, telephone booths are put on top of each other, a stack made of paint containers replaces a bearing aluminium rod of an installation, an adhesive tape fixes a helium balloon in the air. His approach is very pragmatic-ironic, his work is lost to any kind of narrativity. In her novel „The museum of unconditional capitulation“ the author Dubravka Ugresic is asking a friend: „What is art?“ „It is an action that deals with overcoming gravity but not with flying.“ (sh)
Also MARKUS WILFLING has been preoccupied with the extended field of sculptures. However, his approach to art is based on the idea that objects are hardly ever conveying a particular content. The artist has a preference for combining sculptures with furniture and environmental circumstances. In his exhibition he invites the guests to actively explore and unravel his works as opposed to a mere passive contemplation. He also questions the function of his pieces of art, which quite often display a similarity to Ready-Made objects. Wilfling, whose degree of popularity has utterly grown after the threedimensional materialisation of the „Uhrturmschatten“ („the shadow of the clock tower“) in Graz on the occasion of the European Cultural Capital Year in 2003, likes to broach the issue of so-called mirroring and shadow. He objectifies the otherwise „insubstantial“ nature of mirroring and shadows Both of them are part of the physical world, without having an actual „body“. Both of them are images of real objects with various features and qualities. The bare mirror shows a symetrical, undistorted, photo-realistic image, whereas the shadow is a dark, plain projection, whose shape is influenced by the exposure to light. In their co-existance, both are dependant on outside influences such as the light and prove to be mutational and elusive. The gallery PROJEKTRAUM VIKTOR BUCHER shows an installation that was exclusively created for the ongoing exhibition. The „...„ is an accessible site-specific installation that simulates openness or closeness depending on the spectators perspective.
Markus Wilfling ́s main interest is to confuse and question preconceived ways of perception. As a result, the reality becomes uncalculable and unpredictable. The boundaries between inside/ouside and closeness/distance seem to be dissolved completely. What remains is a „playground“ that invites spectators on a sensitive journey of exploration.
Opening Tuesday 17.11.2009, 7-10 pm / 19:00 - 22:00 Uhr
Duration through 15.01.2010
Introduction: Florian Steininger
On behalf of VIENNA ART WEEK 2009
For his works, which have been assigned with numerous awards, MICHAEL KIENZER utilizes all kinds of media; his objects, installations and drawings display different approaches to space, time, plains, density, materiality, copy and original. His sculptural interventions are mostly site-specific and deal with the means of the existing space.
Almost incidentally, two aluminium boards suspended accross the room, only supported by each other and the walls, point out the effect of physical power and eventually alter the observer’s view by modifying a structure that appears unshiftable to begin with. Most of Kienzer’s work that takes place in public or semi-public areas invites spectators to participate. An accessible room constructed with 30 doors was part of the sculptures series „Out Site“ at MUMOK in Vienna. A communicative artwork, as he calls it, where the spectator enters an interspace. In one of his latest installations called „hanging around“ at the Bruno Kreisky Park he attaches hammocks between the trees, a gesture that emphasizes the „in between“ and makes it perceptible and experienceable. It is also in this work that he is using the principles of suspending and interlacing for construction. One can find this concept even more strongly in his sculptures where wires, pipes and ropes are tangled into inextricable lumps. The mixture of materials brings out their various features - smoothness and roughness, flexibility and stiffness – and how they influence each other. In Michael Kienzer ́s work, the material itself is of major importance. He often uses intermediate goods such as wires, boards made of glass or aluminium, poles, ropes, elastic straps but also every day objects like adhesive tape, cans, bottles, rubbers etc. However, those materials are never used in terms of Ready-Made. His objects appear or are new, untreated, they neither bear traces nor contain a story and exhibit a pure presence in their particular function. In his compositions though, the traditional circumstances, the „order“ and the forces are being verified or even put into question: tape rolls are piled up to a seemingly supportive column, telephone booths are put on top of each other, a stack made of paint containers replaces a bearing aluminium rod of an installation, an adhesive tape fixes a helium balloon in the air. His approach is very pragmatic-ironic, his work is lost to any kind of narrativity. In her novel „The museum of unconditional capitulation“ the author Dubravka Ugresic is asking a friend: „What is art?“ „It is an action that deals with overcoming gravity but not with flying.“ (sh)
Also MARKUS WILFLING has been preoccupied with the extended field of sculptures. However, his approach to art is based on the idea that objects are hardly ever conveying a particular content. The artist has a preference for combining sculptures with furniture and environmental circumstances. In his exhibition he invites the guests to actively explore and unravel his works as opposed to a mere passive contemplation. He also questions the function of his pieces of art, which quite often display a similarity to Ready-Made objects. Wilfling, whose degree of popularity has utterly grown after the threedimensional materialisation of the „Uhrturmschatten“ („the shadow of the clock tower“) in Graz on the occasion of the European Cultural Capital Year in 2003, likes to broach the issue of so-called mirroring and shadow. He objectifies the otherwise „insubstantial“ nature of mirroring and shadows Both of them are part of the physical world, without having an actual „body“. Both of them are images of real objects with various features and qualities. The bare mirror shows a symetrical, undistorted, photo-realistic image, whereas the shadow is a dark, plain projection, whose shape is influenced by the exposure to light. In their co-existance, both are dependant on outside influences such as the light and prove to be mutational and elusive. The gallery PROJEKTRAUM VIKTOR BUCHER shows an installation that was exclusively created for the ongoing exhibition. The „...„ is an accessible site-specific installation that simulates openness or closeness depending on the spectators perspective.
Markus Wilfling ́s main interest is to confuse and question preconceived ways of perception. As a result, the reality becomes uncalculable and unpredictable. The boundaries between inside/ouside and closeness/distance seem to be dissolved completely. What remains is a „playground“ that invites spectators on a sensitive journey of exploration.