Austria News » Art

Swiss man turned Viennese museum into swinger club

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:43:51 +0000

Since last weekend the famous Viennese museum Secession was turned into a swinger club by an artist from Switzerland. Peoples party and Freedom party are not so exicted about that. The Swiss man wants to show “real states of our society” by his campaign.

Teenagers under 18 years are not allowed to enter the place during the night. During the day the museum is open for all visitors as always, but when the sun goes down the spot turnes into a sinful swinger club. Of course the feelings of the Viennese are running high by such a provocation.

The artist wanted to have such a discussion, and declared that he was seeking for a scandal. He explained it with the scandal of Gustav Klimt and his Beethove Frieze. It was a huge scandal in his time. Nowadays it’s something normal and nobody is upset about it. The Swiss man wanted to create a new scandal.

The operators of the swinger club explain their project as “bar for swingers, singles and couples who want to spend their time in a lust developing atmosphere with opportunities and free zones to experience everything wich arises from that situation.”

A conservative female politican of the Peoples party is not so excited about that. “We don’t want group sex in our museums”, she said to medias. She plans to stop the incontinent hustle and bustle, and declared that the swinger club should return the subsidies which was taken from the tax money.

Also the Freedom party has a problem with the swinger club in the Secession museum. “Gang bang parties and Domina chambers have nothing to do with art”, says Freedom party politican Gerald Ebinger. “The fact that the project was supported with tax money is disgraceful”, he confirms his anger.

- link: Secession

12 months prison for Viennese poet?

admin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:43:25 +0000

Austrias Broadcasting Corporation ORF reports a 56-year-old poet from Vienna who is accused of smirching slabs in the Viennese Museumsquartier, which is known as the eighth largest cultural area in the world. The trial is going to start on the 18th February. A twelve months imprisonment could be possible.

The passionate poet spreads his works on small sheets in publicly accessible spots since 35 years without asking for permission. He denies the misdeed in the Museumsquartier, but the police claims that he is the guilty one for defilement of 14 stone slabs. The damage amounts 3.900 Euro.

His poetries are known to be very lyric. The poet is of the opinion that art does not need official authorizations. “Art must be intrusive and has to demand a better world”, he says. The 56-year-old already received a vast number of fines and complaints. Now it’s possible he might end in prison.

Austrian performance artist with violence against himself

admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:54:37 +0000

Violence as performance art. An Austrian performance artist from the province of Vorarlberg wants to become famous by exercising violence against himself.

During an event in Tirols provincial capital Innsbruck he pushed his head against a metal plate for two hours. His face was already full of blood when the organizer stopped the event.

The name of the performance artist is Wolfgang Flatz. Last time he was prisoned because he wanted to be locked inside of an exhibition room in Rome.

Photographer: Vinicius Tupinamba | Agency: Dreamstime.com

Festival Of Regions 2009 in Linz

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 04:28:39 +0000

Upper Austrias every 2 years recurring Festival Of Regions is this year located in the Southern part of Linz called “Auwiesen”. “Normality” is the official title of the festival.

The official website fdr.at writes: In 2009, in collaboration with Linz 09 Cultural Capital of Europe, the Festival of Regions will be oriented toward the southern edge of the city of Linz, along the Traun River, with focus on the satellite town of Auwiesen and the residential complexes of solarCity.

From Allende Square to Luna Square, beyond the inner urban orientation toward concentration, commercial use and entertainment, and at a certain safe distance from the cultural spectacles propagated on all sides, the Festival of Regions is interested in the factual or imagined state of normality in urban life and in seeking out its cultural expression. Since 1993 the Festival of Regions has been taking place every two years at decentralized locations in the state of Upper Austria with its capital, Linz, and since then it has developed into contemporary vent with a focus on present-day, site-specific art and culture. At the interface between art and veryday life, the festival’s projects incorporate the populace into a critical engagement with social, olitical and artistic questions. Outside the centres, the Festival of Regions combines contemporary ultural ork and art forms with local histories, problematics and idiosyncrasies.

I have visited the “Garden of the senses”. An unplanned plot on the lane called “Magerweg”, between parking lots and residential blocks, and publicly accessible from the outset, the free lance artist hailing from Serbia built, on his own initiative, a botanical-artistic mini-biotope with plants, workshop area, watercourses, places to sit and shady spots.

A very interesting and bizarre place in the centre of high rising residential houses. The artist who created this kind of oasis is Petar Radisavljevic. A very kind and friendly man who takes a lot of time for his visitors, and enjoys to tell a lot of stories about him and his beautiful garden.

Welcome to the Festival Of Regions 2009 in Auwiesen!

There is a lot of advertising everywhere.

Finally I made it to the “Garden Of Senses”.

The entrance.

The cactus collection. An affectionated arranged stairway leads to the centre of the garden.

The heart of the garden. A look back to the entrance and the stairs.

The passionate artist in his element. He attracts the attention of the visitors with exciting stories about his botanic artwork.

Selfphotography. Der artistical gardener as shadow.

The green oasis in the south of Linz.

The small garden in the centre of residential house facilities.

Total blue house in Klagenfurt

admin — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 04:32:59 +0000

A former bog standard single family house in the Carinthian capital of Klagenfurt was painted in blue colour, and became a new attraction of the city. The house has only one colour, ultramarine blue, outside and inside.

Everything is blue. From cellar to the chimney. It was the idea of an eccentric architect. The house is located close to the Botanic garden on the hill called “Kreuzbergl”.

Also the internal spaces are blue. Blue washbasins, blue fittings, blue tiles and blue floors, walls, and ceilings. The neighbours of the house are not excited about the new colour. According to reports of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation they are quite “annoyed and confused”. Now the new attraction of Klagenfurt should be history again in several weeks. The house will be demolished and carried away. It was just opened and presented yesterday.

The architect Peter Kaschnig from the south of the province explained that he wanted to make a colour experiment with that project. He wanted to know how the human visual performance in rooms changes with only one colour.

He claims that the human has a different perception if natural contrasts are missing. The architect is very happy about his project and told that it was a success. “I experienced more as I have expected before. One colour changes the whole 3-D-world in a room. No computer animation would be able to cause such an effect as in real life”, he told to the press.

Photographer: Vinicius Tupinamba | Agency: Dreamstime.com

Young theatre actresses from Vienna as erotic models

admin — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:11:44 +0000

Some of Viennas most famous theatre actresses undressed themselfes for erotic pictures. Twelve of those pictures can be seen in the foyer of the Burgtheater.

“The wind of change is blowing”, “pure erotic”, and “this is modern art” were the pedantic comments of some critical observers. It was the director of Viennas Burgtheater who had the glorious idea to do such kind of photos.

The main subject of the photos was the engagement with the body, explains theatre director Klaus Bachler. Curator Otmar Rychlik told that those photos should not be considered as remembrance exhibition.

Even star actress and beauty queen Birgit Minichmayr had no problem to undress herself infront of the camera. Such courage also impressed the leading managers of Austrian mail service. They promised to publish the erotic pictures on 55-cent-stamps.

Photographer: Vinicius Tupinamba | Agency: Dreamstime.com

Shakespeare stage play shocks Austrians

admin — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 04:37:38 +0000

A certain Shakespeare stage play at the Viennese Burgtheater makes the blood of the Austrians run cold.

The Shakespeare stage play called “Die Rosenkriege” (the Wars of the Roses) causes pure horror in Austria. Now the police and the youth welfare office has imposed an adult only for this kind of stage play.

Theatre experts, police, psychologists and employees of the youth welfare office have seen the affected play, and came to the conclusion that this kind of dramatic art can cause serious damages for teenagers souls and minds.

If the Viennese Burgtheater disregard the youth only, it risks severest punishments. The shocking stage play is staged by Stephan Kimmig in all three parts of “Heinrich VI.” as well as “Richard III.

Photographer: Vinicius Tupinamba | Agency: Dreamstime.com

Austrians don’t like to visit cinemas anymore

admin — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 05:30:25 +0000

The cinemas in Austria have more and more problems to survive.

Also in the past year the number of visitors decreased. The statistics for the whole country of Austria show a loss of 8 percent visitors.

The most popular movie in 2007 was the hollywood production “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” with Johnny Depp. But even that movie could not reach the magical number of one million.

There are 34 cinemas in Vienna at the moment. Good new movies are missing. That should be the reason of the bad economical situation, think the experts.

Also the big cinemas now start to show the movies of the small arthouse cinemas, which brings those small operators in deep trouble.

Violent art reviewer destroyed sculptures in Graz

admin — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 05:30:24 +0000

A violent form of art critic happened in the Styrian capital of Graz last week.

Two sculptures of a sculpture park were destroyed. It is said sombody might be involved, who is not happy about the work of the artists.

One sculpture has the name “asocial daughter”, and was made by the artist Tobias Rehberger. The other damaged art object is a mirror-steel-sculpture of the artist Tobias Pils.

At the moment the sculpture park in closed. The damage amount 7.700 Euro. The sculpture park is located in the south of Graz.

Festival between Schlierbach and Windischgarsten is over

admin — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 04:39:38 +0000

The “Festival of Regions” in the Southern region of Upper Austria ended yesterday in the late afternoon.

The festival took place from the 23th June to 8th July along the Pyrhn road from Schlierbach in the north to Windischgarsten in the south.

On the last day the artists of the project “Kerbl Ges.m.b.H.’s” made a short walking tour in St. Pankraz, to show the economical development of a regional enterprise.

The final of the festival took place at 4:00pm with a concert of the band „Happy Ducks“ on the Lake Elizabeth in St. Pankraz.

- link: gallery of the festival with photos of the final day