Politically incorrect on purpose – Humans in awkward poses
![Erwin Wurm [Austria] (b 1954) _ _Pee on someone's rug_, 2003. Instructions on how to be politically incorrect. c-print (126 x 160 cm). Cropped](https://publicdelivery.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Erwin-Wurm-Austria-b-1954-_-_Pee-on-someones-rug_-2003.-Instructions-on-how-to-be-politically-incorrect.-c-print-126-x-160-cm.-Cropped-320x180.jpg)
Erwin Wurm – Instructions on how to be politically incorrect, Spit in Someone’s Soup, 2003
Introduction
Erwin Wurm is certainly one of Austria’s and the world’s most recognizable artists. Using social taboos and absurd scenarios to create his thought-provoking work, Wurm’s art installations have broken boundaries and changed the way that people approach and view art in a contemporary society.
Through his installations, Wurm comments on modern society and critiques it through his curious point of view of the world that has catapulted him to global fame and success. Throughout his career, Wurm’s transient performative one minute sculptures which he often photographs before exhibiting have combined both humor and basic criticisms, which has paved the way for innumerable explanations and interpretations from audiences.
What does a museum look like behind the scenes?
Klaus Pichler – Shark at the Museum of Natural History, Vienna, 2010, from Skeletons in the Closet
The backstory
“What does a museum look like behind the scenes?” was the question Austrian photographer Klaus Pichler found himself asking after seeing the unusual sight of museum exhibits in storage.
See how Peter Kogler’s hypnotic installations transform rooms
Peter Kogler – Dimensions, 2011
Peter Kogler’s Rooms
Peter Kogler is a renowned artist from Austria that currently works and lives in Vienna. Kogler is best known for his different psychedelic room installations. Through his paintwork and his intricate projections, he transforms ordinary looking rooms and spaces such as lobbies, galleries, and transit centers by making them look twisted, warped or distorted, which in turn has a psychedelic effect for the public.
Kogler’s room installations explore vital concepts in his art such as modularity and repetition. The rooms alter one’s perception of architecture, which serves as the primary medium for his art. Aside from his dizzying rooms, Kogler is also an important performance, film and video artist as well as a sculptor.
Large scale works by Jeff Koons, Cy Twombly and others
Cy Twombly – Bacchus, Eiserner Vorhang (Iron Curtain) 2010-11, Vienna State Opera, Vienna, Austria
Safety Curtain is an on-going exhibition series taking place in the Vienna State Opera, Austria. The exhibition transforms the safety curtain into a temporary show for contemporary artists every year. The Vienna Opera has been hosting art shows since 1869 and tries to find new and interesting ways to address viewers as well as attract new audiences. However, it is also well known for being a world-class destination for global opera lovers as well as Renaissance Revival architecture.
For now 20 seasons, the Vienna Opera’s safety curtain has included art that has been specifically made for the opera house. The Safety curtain has featured a list of impressive artists such as John Baldessari, Cy Twombly, Tacita Dean, Matthew Barney, Jeff Koons, David Hockney, and Franz West just to mention a few of the famous names.
Why does Lara Almarcegui create massive piles of rubble?
Lara Almarcegui – Construction Rubble of Secession’s Main Hall, 2010, Installation View, Secession, Vienna, Austria
Introduction
Spanish born Lara Almarcegui who currently lives in Rotterdam has always had a deep curiosity for examining processes of contemporary transformation that are brought about by the social, political and economic transformations in society. Since the early 1990s, Lara has examined urban areas that most artists choose not focus on such as rubble from construction materials and stuff from wastelands. Lara carefully catalogs and highlights each location’s inclination towards entropy or lack of order and predictability.
The meaning of her works
Her projects vary based on the intention of the message. For instance, she developed a guide to the wastelands in Amsterdam consisting of materials used to establish the wasteland in its raw form. Lara has managed to consolidate a reputation for herself as a respectable and revered artist in the global artist realm. In 2013, her work allowed her to act as Spain’s only representative in the 55th Venice Biennial.
Erwin Wurm’s One Minute Sculptures are refreshing
Erwin Wurm – One Minute Sculpture, Freud’s rectification (Philosophy digestion)
Since the late 1990s Austrian artist, Erwin Wurm is working on his on-going One Minute Sculpture series in which he or others pose with everyday objects, often within an art space.
Out of this world: Volcanic ash pyramids fill up museums
Magdalena Jetelová – Domestication of Pyramids, Museum of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria
Introduction
Domestication of Pyramids by Magdalena Jetelová are pyramid-sculptures, covered by volcanic ashes, and have been shown at the Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Forum Kunst Rottweil and other art spaces.
Most visited arts non-profit online. Established in 2011 in Seoul, South Korea. Projects in 96 countries.
