Exhibition
The exhibition took place from 9 May to 16 September 2007.
HELD TOGETHER WITH WATER. Art from the VERBUND COLLECTION, Vienna
From 9 May to 16 September 2007, the VERBUND COLLECTION, Vienna, was hosted at the MAK - Museum of Applied Art, Vienna.
Under the title HELD TOGETHER WITH WATER. Art from the VERBUND COLLECTION, Vienna, the MAK showed one of the most exciting company collections, which was opened to the general public here for the first time.
Curator:
Curated by Gabriele Schor, founding director of the VERBUND COLLECTION, Vienna, and Andreas Krištof, curator MAK, Vienna
Team of the VERBUND COLLECTION
Veronica Mader – curatorial assistant
Barbara Wünsch – curatorial assistant
Artists
HELD TOGETHER
A-L
Francis Alÿs | Eleanor Antin | Cecil Beaton | Bernd und Hilla Becher | Johanna Billing | Janet Cardiff / George Bures Miller | Olafur Eliasson | VALIE EXPORT | Gilbert & George | Kate Gilmore | Nan Goldin | Teresa Hubbard / Alexander Birchler | Birgit Jürgenssen | Louise Lawler | Sarah Lucas | Urs Lüthi
M-Z
Gordon Matta-Clark | Ursula Mayer | Anthony McCall | Ernesto Neto | Loan Nguyen | Gabriel Orozco | Wilfredo Prieto | Laura Ribero | Aïda Ruilova | Ed Ruscha | Mario Sala | Fred Sandback | Markus Schinwald | Cindy Sherman | Simon Starling | Annika Ström | Jeff Wall | Gillian Wearing | Lawrence Weiner | Hannah Wilke | David Wojnarowicz | Francesca Woodman
Museum für angewandte Kunst
Stubenring 5, 1010 Wien, AT
Insights into the exhibition HELD TOGETHER WITH WATER. Art from the VERBUND COLLECTION, Vienna
Publication:
HELD TOGETHER WITH WATER. Art from the VERBUND COLLECTION, Vienna
published by Gabriele Schor
Hardcover: 396 pages
Publisher: Hatje Cantz Verlag
Edition: 2007
Language: German
ISBN 978-3-7757-1952-0
Depth not breadth
A collection of contemporary art with an international focus has been growing at VERBUND, Austria’s largest electricity company, since the autumn of 2004. It places art positions of the 1970s in dialogue with current movements. During that decade, many artists parted with painting, and terms such as feminism, post-modernism and the spatialisation of art, as well as the questioning of identities and self-presentation became the focus of artistic attention.
The exhibition concentrates on two topics: “Performance” and “Spaces/Places”. The work applied to the floor at VERBUND, “Held Together With Water” (1993) by the New York concept artist Lawrence Weiner, gives the exhibition its title and marks both the lobby of the energy company and the exhibition at the MAK.
The artistic media variety of sculpture, photography, video, film, slide and audio installation reflects the contemporary orientation of the VERBUND COLLECTION. “Performance” encompasses, among other things, the early photographs of Cindy Sherman, which were created in 1975-76 and in which the artists transforms herself into stereotypical roles. Situated opposite is the themed block “Spaces / Places” with the sculptures consisting of fine threads by Fred Sandback and Ernesto Neto’s organically shaped cage sculpture. Lightboxes by Jeff Wall and photographs by Loan Nguyen mark the topics of periphery and urban non-places. Works by Gordon Matta-Clark, Simon Starling, Gabriel Orozco and Teresa Hubbard / Alexander Birchler etc. supplement the selection of the works presented here and thus show the diversity of the extensive, internationally aligned VERBUND COLLECTION, which has been growing since 2004. The Advisory Board responsible for the collection’s strategy includes Gabriele Schor as head of the collection, Sean Rainbird (Staatsgalerie Stuttgart) and Philipp Kaiser (Museum of Contemporary Art, Basel / MOCA, Los Angeles).
The maxim of the VERBUND COLLECTION is: Depth not breadth.
Photos: © Rupert Steiner
