The media artist and composer Thomas Wagensommerer studied digital media technology, philosophy and transdisciplinary art. His compositional works are positioned at the interfaces between man and machine – a field of activity which is in rapid transformation, due to permanent technological change and the fundamental deepening of the relationship between man and technology.

Of Making Hear.

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As a media artist, Thomas Wagensommerer explores the sound faculty of electronic instruments (the existence of sounds produced by it) as well as the possibilities of sound design in the era of the Web 2.0. more »

Wien Energie Fernwärme adds selected works by Erwin Wurm to its collection.
Erwin Wurm is one of the most important contemporary Austrian artists; his works have been exhibited in eminent international art fairs.

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The “one minute sculptures” he has been producing since the late 1990ies belong to his most famous works. These “sculptures” exist for a minute and are performed either by the spectators or the artist himself, involving elements and actions that are often comical: Balancing objects on their heads or having pens stuck between the toes, in postures impossible to maintain for a longer time. The classical properties of a sculpture are thus presented in a new, grotesque and parodic manner. These ephemeral episodes are documented by video and photography. more »

Hollerer makes conceptual extractions from urban space – yet there is no way of a back transfer as he abstracts to signs and thinks in and with the exhibition space. An artist portrait. The exhibition with works of Clemens Hollerer at CastYourArt runs until January 8, 2011.

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The broken symmetries to be found on construction sites are Clemens Hollerers source of inspiration - the states of transition, the destruction, chaos, mistakes and surprises, but also the clear structures, patterns and colors. more »

Allyson Mitchell’s activist art is meant to prod and provoke, but it draws you in with warmth, sincerity and just a little faux-fur.

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In Allyson Mitchell’s world, art isn’t precious or formal. In fact, you can touch it, feel it, and sometimes even walk on it. Take off your shoes in her Brooklyn, NY studio at the ISCP→ International Studio & Curatorial Program toe your way across a patchwork quilt of crocheted pot holders, toilet seat covers, blankets and you quickly become part of her signature installation in-progress more »

Constantin Luser challenges us to enter the maze of his imagination: he corners us against the wall of our indifference and confronts us with the unavoidable question whether we will ever be able to escape. But escape what? A portrait.

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In any case, it tames the wildness of our thinking, which means that when it happens –ever so rarely- the hegemony of the concept is erased and for a moment we are cured of our illness separating us from time – our rationality. more »

There has been substantial evidence for the theory, according to the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, that it is far less important for humans to know who they are, than where they are. The persistent ignorance regarding one’s place of existence is one of the causes for what newer philosophy calls oblivion of being.

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The inquiry after the “where” and the placing of one’s person and works represent central aspects of Wilhelm Scherübl’s work. His work realizes itself in the examination of his locations of residence and life, and in the integration of the respective condition of the places and resources which he finds there. more »

A grid-like strut frame, constructed out of several vertical and horizontal aluminum rods, stands in the space, and is held both together and upright by means of a chaotic network of wide black rubber bands with no visible beginning or end. The sculpture conveys a precarious stability, based on workings of gravity, traction, pressure, and friction. Bringing attention to the forces that constitute a work is a central concern of the artist, Michael Kienzer. Through the methods of interlacing, interweaving, and extensive tension, he creates links, references, connections between things and materials, and thereby reveals the fact that it is not the elements themselves, but the mutual relations between the elements—what is formed in between—that represents the character of a work.

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Kienzer completed his degree at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Graz and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, where he studied sculpture under Bruno Gironcoli. For his work—which has received numerous awards, among them the Monsignore Otto Mauer Award—he uses various media; for objects, installations, and designs, he takes different approaches to themes such as space, time, surface, compression, materiality, image, and the original. His sculptural interventions are mostly site-specific, working within the means of a given space. For example, in a lapidary fashion, two aluminum plates are set up straight across a space, supported only by themselves and the walls, drawing attention to the physical forces at work, therby shifting them, and changing the viewer’s perspective of the structures, which at first appear unalterable. more »

In the modern, functionally disenchanted world, those who seek out magical moments must first acknowledge reality, but still hold on to the belief that that which is possible can reveal itself in reality. The magic of enchantment exists in transformation. It is based on the ability of the ordinary, banal, and overlooked to wake the fantasy buried within ourselves.

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Two parallel curved pencils experience togetherness. Small flames burn from the valves of the tires of a casually parked bicycle. Lighters positioned next to each other share an adjoining flame. The Israeli artist Ariel Schlesinger describes himself as a little romantic. His sense for the fantastic and awareness of the possible as that which is overlooked in reality are two jumping-off points for his art, which magically draws in and fascinates viewers through subtle interventions. more »

We keep things on hand because they are important to us. We store them. They are available: for example, birthdays of friends, important telephone numbers, and sometimes, works of art. In Vienna, the Museum on Demand (Museum auf Abruf, MUSA) serves this purpose. This museum of the city of Vienna keeps a collection of artworks by artists living in Vienna which is accessible to the city’s residents.

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The collection began in 1945 with an acquisition of watercolors. Since then, the art collection has increased to nearly 20,000 works. They represent the work of Vienna’s resident artists for over a half century. Acquisition, says the present director of MUSA, Berthold Ecker, is the most significant form of support for artists. This has been the cornerstone of MUSA’s artistic policy since the beginning and remains so until today. The city of Vienna purchases about 130 new works of art annually for this collection. Today, one can find works from Franz West, Maria Lassnig, and Erwin Wurm there. more »

With her work, says the Canadian artist Karine Giboulo, she would like to leave behind an impression of the world. That is, her impression. The common thread in the works of this artist is her viewpoint. Giboulo looks closely at those things which do not lie directly before her eyes. Her view refuses to be influenced by the power strategies which aim at holding the world in an overview so that one need not see it in precise detail and can look away so as not to get so emotionally involved. The sociologist Zygmunt Bauman identified such an overview—the social production of moral invisibility—as an intentional strategy of our modern, global world. Giboulo’s view points in a reverse direction. It concentrates on the particular, focusing in on things in detail, thereby identifying the effects of these overviews and strategies of looking away.

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Giboulo’s work consists of miniature worlds: 3D views of fast food restaurant parking lots, living rooms, advertising themes, factory halls…all assembled from intricately detailed Plasticine figures. Her childlike representation of the adult world, sometimes reinforced even more by the stylistic use of fairy-tale personification, is disarming. Such art can be so endearing and frank, in the same way children are, who will tell you to your face that from which you would rather look away. more »