In the early twentieth century, in the course of the modern art’s search for the “very early origins” of art, so-called “outsider art” was discovered. At the same time, psychiatrists who hoped to be able to use works of psychiatric patients for diagnostic purposes began actively collecting for the first time on a large scale. Along these lines, the art historian and physician Hans Prinzhorn (1886-1933), received a commission from the Heidelberger hospital in 1919 to extend the small educational collection of the institute and to find methods that would help to gain insides into the type of the patients’ illness using their creative works. However, Prinzhorn rejected taking a purely clinical psychiatric approach to the works. Instead, he set the works into an art-theoretical context and thereby brought the aesthetic beauty of the until-then marginalized “mad art” into focus for the first time—a pioneering achievement.

Part 1

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Part 2

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Part 3

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In 1922, Prinzhorn published the book, Artistry of the Mentally Ill, in which he documented and interpreted a large part of the collection, drawing parallels to other forms of artistic patterns and contemporary art. While his colleagues mostly rejected the book, it was enthusiastically received by the modern art world. It inspired artists such as Max Ernst, Alfred Kubin, and Pablo Picasso, and had a substantial influence on twentieth-century art theory and reception, which is reflected in—not least of all—today’s occupation with “state-bound art” and “outsider art“.

Today, the Prinzhorn Collection includes 5000 works from 435 mostly schizophrenic-diagnosed patients of various social backgrounds and age ranges. It brings together drawings, paintings, collages, textiles, sculptures, and texts, which emerged between 1880 and 1933 in the psychiatric institutes of mainly German-speaking countries.

A selection of the Prinzhorn Collection is presently on display in the Museum of Contemporary Art at the Benediktinerstift Admont. (sh/jn)

The American sound artist, Douglas Henderson, studied composition and theory at Princeton University under Milton Babbitt, a pioneer of synthesizers and Pulitzer Prize winner, Elie Yarden, and J.K. Randall, co-editor of the magazine, Perspectives of New Music.
Henderson currently resides in Brooklyn and, after receiving a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service in 2007, in Berlin. His artistic work has been supported by renowned foundations such as the Rockefeller Foundation, the Foundation of Contemporary Art New York, and numerous other grants; his list of exhibition activities and performances is as noteworthy as it is international. His compositional work has been presented at countless computer and new music festivals ranging from Seoul to New York. He has collaborated intensely with modern dance choreographers, composing for the likes of Jeremy Nelson, David Zambrano, and Meg Stuart, as well as for numerous dance theatres across Europe and the US.

Visible Sound

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Part 2. Playback

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The work of this composer and performer is located somewhere in the scope of multi-channel electro-acoustic composition. However, he is not only concerned with purely acoustic work, rather, he is consistently devoted to making sound visible. He didn’t really want to begin, says the artist, with the common perception of music, and wanted to be less concerned with how music sounds than how it looks. This does not mean that the acoustic intensity would be negligible, but rather that it would serve as a reference that determines which approach his compositional work takes. His recording, “Icebreaker”, performed at the Hudson Opera House, awakes paranoid feelings in the listener, who feels as if a sheet of ice is cracking underneath his/her own feet and shattering into a million tiny bits. His loudspeakers, painted in swimming-pool blue and filled with water, lean once again in a more visual direction. Henderson compares this 2003 piece with abstract painting, and as a composer, he considers it representative of a large part of his work.

Lately, the artist has also turned his attention to constructing instruments in the form of space installations. Strings are stretched across the spaces and entire building structures are utilized as bodies of sound. They are activated by machines and challenge the movements of the visitors, who come to realize that they are triggering what they are hearing with their own bodies. (wh/jn)

Most of his sound installations are not recorded. They would not function on loudspeakers or headphones, says Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag, because his compositions typically use the entire body as an acoustic reception space. It can be good that the sound does not penetrate the through the eardrum, but instead, for example, through the soles of the feet - for those who would stand on their own loudspeakers. Sonntag’s artistic achievements involve interfaces between the human body, technical media systems, and sound-mediated space perceptions. For example, in one project, he plunges a randomly vibrating column into the earth, whose upper edge serves as ground-level manhole. Those who step on the manhole can sense the depth of the earth with their bodies through the oscillations of the manhole, as well as experience space in a different, nonvisual way.

Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag was born in 1965. He studied trombone under Heinz Fadle at the University of Music Lübeck, then he studied eight different subjects, ranging from art history to philosophy, in Oldenburg. Since then, he has taught at universities in Istanbul, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Oldenburg, and Darmstadt.

The Architecure of Sound

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The Essence of Electricity

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Attempts at categorizations place Sonntag’s roots in minimum and conceptual art, as well as in new/experimental music. However, Sonntag prefers not to be pigeonholed. He finds the categories into which the arts are assigned too limiting. He would define himself more as a composer than as a sound artist, but his work is also visual. His favorite term would be inventor. Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag conducts science by way of art, and his prolific artistic invention has been highly recognized. He has received numerous awards and has had exhibitions everywhere from New York to Bishkek. In 2008, he opened the avant-garde festival of electronic art, Ars Electronica in Linz, with his sonArc:: a project which explored elementary forms of electricity. In search of the roots and visions of this media age, Sonntag captured the essence of electricity through the possibilities of taming lightning with his technological devices.

The tonal experience and exploration of space and questions of perspective form the other important field of the artist’s research. Sonntag seeks out possibilities of capturing tangible spatiality through sound, and thereby pose alternatives to the visual occupation of the perception of space, with its pervasion of perspective, from the field of psycho-acoustic space perception. For this CastYourArt podcast, Sonntag referred acoustically to his body sounds – the result, an aural sampling of the thought process of the artist as well as a body sound collage… (wh/jn)

In Canada, private funding for the arts has become more important. This is not because there are many wealthy people with philanthropic ambitions in the art sector, but because in Canada, as in other countries, the government has cut down significantly on art funding. An aging but very expensive infrastructure on the one hand, and changing concepts of art and a growing artistic population on the other hand, are circumstances that are putting more strain on public resources. In this context, the private sector plays an important but almost invisible role in the promotion of art in Canada. This circle of art patrons is limited to approximately five to ten financially secure backers.



The DHC Foundation for Contemporary Art is located in the port city quarter of old Montreal, where it operates its own art space. It was founded in 2007 by Phoebe Greenberg, Penny Mancuso, and Tammy Lee. Greenberg is considered to be DHC’s driving force, as well as the financial backer of the foundation. As artist and entrpreneur, she has experience in the field of endowment and as a film producer, as well as possessing the necessary persistence for realizing the foundation. Fifteen years of conviction, planning, and implementation went by until the first exhibition could open.



Audio interview with John Zeppetelli, curotor at the DHC/ART

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Audio interview with John Zeppetelli, curotor at the DHC/ART

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In the meantime, the foundation took on its role in the promotion of contemporary art through exhibitions, education programs, artist discussions, art film presentations, and special projects. The activities of the foundation are no longer limitied to its own premises, the promotion of presentations of works of art in large international art shows is also part of its agenda.
 
Bringing internationally well-known names to Montreal is one of the tasks of foundation. Christian Marclay, Sophie Calle, and Marc Quinn were all featured in solo exhibitions with comprehensive sets of works. This approach to content is a requirement of  the private funding: the possibilities of the art commissions are supplemented by private funds. It therefore became apparent what was lacking, according to the curator John Zeppetelli, especially in terms of contemporary art.  Those members of the Montreal art audience who could previously afford the luxury of flying to New York can now make a free visit to the DHC, right in the old quarter of their own city. (wh)

By mid-January, the London Art Fair kicks off the international art fair season. At year end, offerings such as Art Basel Miami or alternatively, the Contemporary Art Fair in Istanbul are up for grabs to art dealers, buyers, and onlookers. The business of fine art is conducted at these fairs. Depending on which art information site that one consults, anywhere from 30 up to 100 art fairs pave the way of artistic-financial exchange between London and Miami each year. In view of the vast range of fairs to choose from, it has become increasingly important in the last few years for fair directors to develop a comprehensive profile of their event.

According to Bartz, his task is to recognize and bring together opportunities that represent particular geographical, financial, artistic, and institutional circumstances. For three years, the artistic director of Vienna Fair has developed a prominent profile among the international art events. The fair’s program is characterized by contemporary art with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe. It features a variety of renowned galleries and it has opened doors into the international art market for young and lesser-known galleries from the eastern member states of the European Union.

Videomoods from the ViennaFair 2009

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Audiointerview with Edek Bartz artistic director of Vienna Fair

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Edek Bartz himself has an Eastern European background. Born in a Russian internment camp in Quaraghandy, the fourth largest city of Kazakhstan, he spent his childhood in Poland. In 1958, on the way to “emigrating” to Israel, his mother made a “stop” in Vienna, where her family had lived, and ended her journey there. Bartz soon made a name for himself within and beyond the city as a gifted manager in the music and art worlds. He himself was a musician, acted as a manager for the Austrian pop icon, Falco, and founded and managed festivals. Today, he curates exhibitions and teaches at the University of Applied Art in Vienna.

The combination of his knowledge of art and his understanding of the organizational and commercial sides of art events was his most important qualification for his position as artistic director of Vienna Fair, says Bartz. Sales are a very important aspect of Vienna Fair, but a successful art fair must also be an entertaining platform for analyzing artistic directions, identifying where new centers develop, discussing curatorial strategies, and, in particular, building up good contacts. Those who are seeking the opportunity for discussions with gallery owners, artists, and curators, considering purchasing an artwork, or just looking for some interaction and exchange, should check out Vienna Fair, which will also feature a number of internationally curated exhibitions in galleries and art spaces around Vienna, as well as various events and parties sponsored by the fair. (wh/jn)
CastYourArt will also be represented at Vienna Fair in the media section. Feel free to stop by, we look forward to your visit!

Carlos Sandoval is a sound artist. Sandoval’s own definition of his work includes sound design, sound speculation, improvisation, classical composition, and a combination of all of the above. In the work of the artist, the dissolution of the composer as the ruling subject of the music plays an important role. For example, for his installation of trees, “Baumberauschen”, in the Kreuzberg section of Berlin, nature is the designated composer of the music. The trees are equipped with sensors which detect their movements, caused by wind and growth, and direct these impulses with sounds from sound archives.

Paring Down. Part 1

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Wind in the Trees. Part 2

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The artist teaches improvisation and composition as complementary strategies at the Universität der Künste Berlin. The multifaceted approach to planning and spontaneity is a reflection of Sandoval’s focus: the withdrawal of the controlling subject from the music, which can also be found in Sandoval’s 2008 collaboration for the program of the “Interaktion Festival”, called “The Tilt Group”. Sixteen musicians participated, paired up randomly, in a competition for the best musical interaction.

The artist has an experimental and unusual concept of music. His works are sound manipulations, sound improvisations, sound installations. His raw material includes everything from the cries of a flock of birds to street noise to electronic toy sounds to the moans of couples in the throes of ecstasy. The instruments of the artist are experimental developments. For example, over the course of one decade, during repeated stays at the STEIM Foundation in the Netherlands, Sandoval has developed a digital data entry glove from which he is able to control and work on sound samples live from the computer.

Carlos Sandoval was born and grew up in Mexico. After earning his bachelor’s degree, he was trained in piano construction and tuning at Bösendorfer in Vienna. He then completed his studies in Mexico at the National School of Music Composition, studying theory with Estrada. Presently, Sandoval works as a freelance composer and musician in Berlin. (wh/jn)

In the Austrian Alps, a modern private museum was set up between Vienna, Linz, Graz, and Salzburg in 2003, after five years of construction. Within a few years, it was awarded the Austrian Museum Prize for its innovative design and in recognition of the unusual dedication of its private owners to the preservation, presentation, and promotion of art.

According to the director of the collection, Michael Braunsteiner, the owners of the museum demonstrate a style that is “absolutely relaxed and somehow cooler”. This is surprising considering that the owners are not newly-rich young idealists, but the monks from the Benedictine Admont Monastery, which dates back over 1000 years, and whose monks are aged over fifty years old on average.

The developing years of the museum. Part 1

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Developing the contemporary art collection. Part 2

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Since the renovation, the Benedictine monastery does not only house the newly reconstructed, largest monastery library in the world, but also a museum complex extending over several floors, which includes an art-historical and natural history museum, as well its own permanent collection of contemporary art and exterior monastery spaces used for art installations.

In 1998, Michael Braunsteiner was assigned to lead the transformation of the museum Stift Admont and to curate the development of the contemporary art collection. CastYourArt spoke with him about the developing years of the museum, especially in regard to the arrangement and layout of the contemporary art collection. (wh/jn)

People go through life with open ears – they cannot close their ears, as they can their eyes, to the sounds of the world, unless they physically block them. The ear is a completely closed off sensory organ. We hear, even when we sleep. We hear sharply only rarely and perceive differently, those noises which surround and penetrate us. If we tune into ourselves and back in time, not only the sounds from streetcar, cow-, door-, recess, fire brigade, church, or bicycle bells resonate within us, but also an amazingly extensive audio cosmos. We come to learn that sounds have emotional connotations, that our feelings have different intonations.

Sam Auinger is engaged with the world of sounds, tones, and noises and their geographical-cultural as well as historical differences. He thereby carries on a tradition of artistic involvement with sound in which people such as Erik Satie, Luigi Russolo, John Cage, and Murray Schäfer made history. Trained at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz and University Mozarteum Salzburg, he made himself a name as a composer and sound artist, as well as a researcher and architect in the world of sound and its effects. His works, which depict different worlds of sound, are presented worldwide as performances, installations, experiments, films, and videos, and invite a conscious recollection of ones own horizon of sound. In his work, “Sechse läuten”, for example, he collected noises from his childhood, listening for which tones followed him into adulthood, determining which came to him out of joy, obedience, feeling left out, familiarity, or fear.

A Hearing Perspective

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Not only sounds themselves, but their location have a character. The location as a sound object, an aspect of sound emphasized by the American avant-garde artist John Cage, is at present part of the research of the artist, who is active as a guest professor for experimental sound organization at the University of the Arts in Berlin. In his search for a new language of hearing, Sam Auinger often works in various collaborations, and publishes under the names “O+A”, ” berliner theorie”, “tamtam”, and “stadtmusik”. CastYourArt interviewed Sam Auinger in Berlin. (wh/jn)

New York has always been known for its international flavor and background, but until only recently, Austrian and German culture was not at the forefront of this range, largely due to a complicated history that has taken half a century to resolve. Culture is inevitably wrapped up in its history, and Austrian and German culture are definitely no exceptions, given the events of the last century.

However, Austrian and German modern art of the beginning of the 20st century has found a new place and home in the US, and the location could not be more appropriate: on the Museum on Fifth Avenue in New York, a formally German neighborhood. The Neue Galerie is a small but opulent institution founded in 2001 by two great enthusiasts for this period in art in the US, Ronald Lauder, renowned businessman and philanthropist, and the late Serge Sabarsky, art dealer and pioneer of German and Austrian Expressionist art in New York.

The founding of the Neue Galerie.

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The reemergence of German and Austrian Expressionist art in New York.

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Klimt’s “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I”

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The Neue Galerie has built its reputation on its meticulous showcasing of this previously underrepresented genre of art, which culminated in the history-making acquisition of its prize possession, the Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt, which the museum proudly refers to as the “Mona Lisa” of its collection. Since then, issues of restitution and provenance of artworks have become an important part of the museum’s program.

Art and history can never be separated, and the Neue Galerie came into its own in the US based on this principle. Can a monetary value be placed on works of art whose history cannot be separated from their aesthetic worth? Has German and Austrian Expressionist art now come full circle in the US, due to the attention that the Neue Galerie New York has brought to it? Sitting in the flawlessly recreated Viennese-style café of the Neue Galerie, Café Sabarsky, CastYourArt discussed these and other questions with Scott Gutterman, deputy director of the Neue Galerie. (jn)

The author Josef Kleindienst, based in Vienna, writes “audio pictures”, plays, novels, and screenplays. His work, “Become a Member”, came out in 2007.

It is an audio picture of a relationship that is formed between three people due to an unexpected event. The ones involved are paralyzed in a moment of shock and unable to escape the situation. They are trapped in this involuntary gathering and struggle with actions and words to regain their fading composure.

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The speakers are Simona Sbaffi, Andreas Patton, Manfred Stella, and Simon Hatzl. Music by Hüseyin Evirgen. Sound by Johannes Kelz. Illustration by Elsa Mährenbach. Text and direction by Josef Kleindienst.