Exhibitions 2007

Donation Bogner. 10 Years Kiesler Foundation Vienna

Opening: Thursday, October 19th, 2007, 7.30 pm
Kiesler Foundation Vienna
Mariahilfer Strasse 1b, 1060 Vienna/Austria
Duration: October 22nd, 2007 – February 15th, 2008
Finissage: Monday, February 18th, 2008, 6.00 pm

The art historians and collectors Gertraud and Dieter Bogner have been committed for decades to study and communicate the work of the Austro-American artist and architect Friedrich Kiesler (1890-1965). The large amount of exhibitions, publications and essays by Dieter Bogner proves his engagement to the history of Kiesler's influence and impact on other artists. From very early years on Kiesler's works have been part of the art collection of Gertraud and Dieter Bogner, who were both co-founders of the Kiesler Foundation Vienna.
On the occasion of the decennial of the Austrian Frederick and Lillian Kiesler Private Foundation Gertraud and Dieter Bogner will donate a selection of outstanding works of Kiesler to the foundation:
The reconstruction of the Träger- und Legersystem, 1924.
A series of vintage-prints of the City in Space, built 1925 on the occasion of the Expo in Paris.
The master plan of the Vision Machine, carried out in 1941/42. The archive of the foundation holds its preliminary studies.
The model of the Endless House of 1959 as well as a charcoal drawing of Kiesler related to it.
We are glad to present you the innovative ideas of Frederick Kiesler in our exhibition “Donation Bogner. 10 Years Kiesler Foundation Vienna” once more, ranging from systems of presentation to his architectural icon, the Endless House. These donations mean the most important increase of the collection in the history of the foundation.

Peter Sandbichler _ no access

Opening: Friday, May 11, 2007, 7 p.m.
Kiesler Foundation Vienna, Mariahilfer Straße 1b/Mezzanin, 1060 Vienna
Duration: May 14, 2007 till September 6, 2007

The installation "no access" by the Austrian artist Peter Sandbichler pushes as a kind of contradictory into the framework of the "Kiesler Foundation Vienna". The arrangement of twenty-one metallic lockers seems not only to break the mold of the exhibition space by way of its martial peculiarity. Its hermetic structure also undermines the narrative goals and requirements of this location which considers itself as an open forum of communication. With respect to the modular construction and circular assembly of several of the elements the arrangement of "no access" corresponds to Frederick Kiesler's "Mobile Home Library" of 1938/39, the core piece of Kiesler's pragmatic research on new methods of daily life design at Columbia University. In his draft Sandbichler refers to this accordance and quotes Kiesler's project as affecting factor, furthermore provides this source as origin of his inspiration. But in contrast to Kiesler's "Mobile Home Library" which was conceptually complied with mobility, flexible usage, and most notably unrestricted accessibility Sandbichler's work of art is stationary and faces the beholder in a refusing manner.

However there are further essential understandings between Kiesler's modernistic concern of research and the more recent artistic attitude of Sandbichler. Terms like "home" (Kiesler) and "private" (Sandbichler) are inscribed in both works as significant labels, at once in the title and in the object itself. They ultimately point to one and the same: a unique system of reference, adjusted to particular and personal needs of the individual.

Matthias Klos _ projektiv wiedergeben

Opening: Thursday, March 15, 2007, 7 p.m.
Kiesler Foundation Vienna, Mariahilfer Straße 1b/Mezzanin, 1060 Vienna
Duration: March 16, 2007 till April 26, 2007
Opening hours: Mo – Thu 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Fr 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Matthias Klos investigates changing communication strategies in the field of contemporary arts.
Looking close at daily events as well as particular working situations in the context of the arts allows the artist to unfold undercover and hidden communciation processes. Comparable to efforts by Friedrich Kiesler who enhanced the work of art by providing lingustic comments,  the precise imagery by Klos may add a further, occasionally ironic level of meaning to the depicted.

In his project entitled „shirts to the shelter“ he imitates and/or paraphrases conventional merchandising displays. As signs of individual self-dramatization and descriptions of identity he smuggles this material in various visual documents that finally can be read – (re-)produced in a projective manner – as statements of media critique.

On the occasion of the opening there will be an introduction by Dr Susannne Neuburger.