Opening and catalogue presentation: Monday, 20 June at 7 p.m.
Introduction: Ruth Horak
Artist talk with Hans Kupelwieser: Thursday, 21 July at 7 p.m.
WERKSCHAU XVI is the sixteenth show in a series of annual exhibitions at FOTOGALERIE WIEN dedicated to contemporary artists, who have made substantial contributions to the artisticdevelopments of photography and new media in Austria. A spectrum of works by artists Jana Wisniewski, Manfred Willmann, VALIE EXPORT, Leo Kandl, Elfriede Mejchar, Heinz Cibulka, Renate Bertlmann, Josef Wais, Horakova+Maurer, Gottfried Bechtold, Friedl Kubelka, Branko Lenart, INTAKT – Die Pionierinnen (Renate Bertlmann, Moucle Blackout, Linda Christanell, Lotte Hendrich-Hassmann, Karin Mack, Margot Pilz, Jana Wisniewski), Inge Dick und Lisl Ponger has been presented in the WERKSCHAU series thus far.
This year’s WERKSCHAU is dedicated to the works of Hans Kupelwieser, whose works operate at the intersection of photography and sculpture.
A retrospective catalogue and the Werkschau Fotoedition Nr. 10 accompany WERKSCHAU XVI.
This WERKSCHAU, dedicated to Hans Kupelwieser (born 1948 in Lunz am See, Lower Austria, who lives and works in Vienna), demonstrates the interdependence of various media in his works through a presentation of a large selection of his earlier and more recent objects, photograms, photographs, and collages. Recognized as an advocate of the “expanded” notion of sculpture, the artist is decidedly concerned with the investigation of space through his sculptural objects, but he is also interested in experimenting with material and content using various materials, such as aluminum, rubber, and steel, often using means of illusion in regards to form and function.
Interested in the tension between surface and space, between two- and three-dimensionality, the artist discovered the photogram as a kind of “mediator”, allowing him to transform three-dimensional objects into two-dimensional images. The photogram, the direct imprint of reality, “shows a maximum proximity to the original with which it was in fact in direct contact, while at the same time proving to be at a maximum distance away from the original, no longer conveying its usual visual appearance” (Ruth Horak). Since the early 1980s, Kupelwieser has produced hundreds of photograms in various formats; a 3 x 10-meter work was created especially for the FOTOGALERIE WIEN. The production process also plays a significant role in the artist’s work often becoming the most integral element of the image produced. For his photograms, the artist uses everyday objects, such as potatoes, spaghetti, paper, chips, but also furniture including bed slats, tables and chairs. He then finds his way back from two-dimensional planes to the sculptural form: For example, the shadow of an aluminum chair is then cut from aluminum. As Ruth Horak describes, “The interweaving of object and image, the broad spectrum of images, as well as the variability of the photograms make tangible the inseparable alter ego of the sculptor Hans Kupelwieser.”
Petra Noll, on behalf of the collective