iKunsthalle WienNeubau
Lebt und arbeitet in Wien: Contemporary Art from Vienna
This exhibition has ended.
Fifth edition of the Vienna art-scene survey: 56 artists, 130+ works, many newly commissioned, across both venues (MuseumsQuartier and Karlsplatz).
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By the Kunsthalle's back entrance, in a covered corner where people smoke during openings, Christoph Meier has hung a traditionally cast bell decorated with cigarette butts and lighters. It's pulled by hand, and if someone pulls it while you're there, expect to flinch: Monopol reports the audience jumps and every conversation stops. Vienna's churches ring for Mass; this one rings for a cigarette break.
Inside is the fifth edition since 2000 of the Kunsthalle's survey of the city's scene: 56 artists picked from a pool of 700, over 130 works, 38 of them new. The Museumsquartier spreads over three floors, with sculptures and wall panels along an open diagonal through the hall. The glass pavilion at Karlsplatz, facing the Secession, is airier and mostly about architecture.
Monopol's Patricia Grzonka called it "pretty but tame", heavy on academy professors and established galleries, light on activist work. Tickets are €14, free under 19, pay what you can on Thursdays 17:00 to 20:00, and free on Sunday 25 October.
Look for
Christoph Meier's smokers' bell
Look by the back entrance for a hand-pulled bell, cast the traditional way and studded with cigarette butts and lighters, hanging over the smoking corner.
Angelika Loderer's sand and metal mobile
At the Museumsquartier, a mobile built from sand and metal hangs in what Monopol calls a precarious balance.
Emma Hummerhielm Carlén's room-corner casts
In the glass pavilion at Karlsplatz, casts taken from the corners of rooms stand with the Secession visible through the glass.
Liesl Raff's rubber cloths
Near them at Karlsplatz, cloths hang on the wall with shifting surfaces of natural rubber that respond to the room's atmosphere.
Sebastian Koeck's wire carts
Found wire transport carts turn up at both venues, each carrying a different load; Monopol reads them as the show's running gag.
Good for
- Evening Visits
- Out-Of-Town Guests
Skip if
You want politically charged work: Monopol found activist positions underrepresented.
With kids
Under-19s go free at both venues.
Also at Kunsthalle Wien
On now nearby
Nearby
Image credits
8
- Kunsthalle WienStephan Wyckoff / PresseKunsthalleWien, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Herbert Boeckl – Hans Josephsohn: Figural ArchetypesHerbert Boeckl Nachlass, Vienna; Josephsohn Estate / Kesselhaus Josephsohn, St. Gallen
- Tolia Astakhishvili: Figure of the Childmumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien
- Terminal Piecemumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien
- Leopold MuseumPeter Gugerell / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
- mumok – Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig WienAndrzej Otrębski / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Architekturzentrum Wien (Az W)Spock1801 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Kunsthistorisches Museum WienManfred Werner (Tsui), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0