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»New spaces – new art?« was the title in January this year of an event in the Wiener Depot, responding in a discussion round to the increasing emergence of small exhibition spaces and project initiatives in Vienna. The speakers invited were Dana Charkasi, who last year transformed her former »Plattform – Raum für Kunst« (»Platform – Space for Art«) into a gallery, Mario Grubisic, director of the Viennabiennale, now being held for the second time, and Australian artist Marita Fraser, who runs a small exhibition venue in the second district called »bell street« in conjunction with Alex Lawler.
The central issue in the discussion concerned the question of what is »alternative« or non-mainstream about each exhibition space and about what the term »alternative space« actually signifies. As a neo-gallerist, who has transformed her »Plattform« into a commercial space at the request of the artists she represents, Dana Charkasi was understandably enough only interested to a certain extent in this »alternative« status, whilst Mario Grubisic wishes to foster decentralization of exhibition venues with the low budget biennale he initiated and is in no small part counting on the hipness and event-based character of alternative spaces: in addition to galleries, this year’s biennale will once again be held in over 30 locations that include art institutions along with studios, bars, »new spaces« and will this time also spill over into public space too. The definition of an alternative space, which is anyway very vague, tallied most neatly with Marita Fraser, who uses terms such as »independent«, »non-commercial« and »temporary« to describe her activities organising presentations that change every week and thus at least moved the discussion closer to a discourse critical of institutions. However, for her it was not so much resistance against established institutions that pushed her to decide to open her own space to present art but instead the idea of supplementing the apparently ever narrower and more constrained system of distributing and presenting art.
It became clear in an exhibition tour including only a selection of the most recent initiatives (the numbers before the names refer to Vienna’s districts) that this approach is the lowest common denominator uniting many diverse new initiatives.
2., bell street project space
Since 2006 Marita Fraser and Alex Lawler have run their temporary project space in a small pub in the second district. The underlying notion inspiring the space is an »international network of artists living in Vienna«. The selection made by the two Zobernig students is very much a personal choice, as is the case in all project spaces, and for that reason encompasses a high density of Zobernig students and artistic examinations of conceptual questions. Alongside solo and group exhibitions, which in some cases developed out of exchange programmes, artists from their circle of friends have also been invited to work as guest curators over the last couple of years. In an approach that is light-years away from the charm of the homemade, the emphasis is on professional presentations of young artists and thus apparently is still interesting too for artists already shown in Viennese galleries and other art institutions (inter alia Gilbert Bretterbauer, Volker Eichelmann, Sonia Leimer, Nadim Vardag, Lone Haugaard Madsen).
http://www.bellstreet.net
2., Open Space – Zentrum für Kunstprojekte
»Open Space«, opened at the start of the year by Gulsen Bal is one of the city’s most recent »non-commercial« exhibition spaces. It is housed in a small basement space in the Taborstraße and has taken on the task of shedding critical light on the changes and realignments associated with European Union enlargement in exhibitions, lectures, screenings and panel discussions. In addition the website boasts the ambitious goal of operating as a kind of forum that will also initiate new forms of intercultural cooperation via various exchange programmes, with the small room serving as the hub connecting all the strands. For the time being it is hard to see how these long-term goals will evolve, but nevertheless the committed director has already organised two exhibitions since January 2008; showing : »The Temporary Zones«, with works by Ergin Çavusoglu, Peter Mörtenböck & Helge Mooshammer and Nada Prlja, brought together three artistic projects that can be taken as markers allowing us to read off a clear picture of the space’s political manifesto. For first of all, with Ergin Çavusoglu’s work the exhibition takes it utterly for granted that Europe also includes Turkey and secondly, the works focuses on globalised processes that extend from the conflict-ridden re-shuffling of the cards of power in Croatia right through to the boom in black markets in Moscow. The second presentation of artistic works in the young »Zentrum für Kunstprojekte«only recently drew to a close with the exhibition conceived by guest curator Juraj Carny »Interface«; however, thanks to her specific geographical and socio-political focus, Gulsen Bal has already filled a significant gap in Vienna’s landscape of project spaces.
http://www.openspace-zkp.org/
4., dreizehnzwei
As David Komary suspended operations in his non-commercial exhibition space at the start of the year, I would like to at least draw attention to his catalogues here. From 2003 on, a small publication appeared for every exhibition as a key component of his exhibition strategy, embedding the works of the artists, generally presented in thematic shows allowing comparisons and contrasts of emerge, in the context of discourse and with illustrations by way of additional documentation. David Komary showed not only works from the fine arts in his slick White Cube, but also presented exhibitions showcasing filmmakers, media artists and musicians, with whom he developed the shows in close cooperation.
http://www.dreizehnzwei.cjb.net
6., swingr – Raum auf Zeit
Initiated by a group of several young artists as a »communication and exhibition platform«, the very name »Raum auf Zeit« (»Space for a while«) served to counteract any possible institutionalisation of the location. By now some of the initiators are no longer involved in devising the programme but exhibitions have been presented on a regular basis ever since it opened in April 2006 nevertheless.
The great demand for exhibition spaces is reflected in the alternating exhibition concept: both rooms of the former workshop are in constant use, in as much as one exhibition is mounted in one room whilst an exhibition is presented in the other room. When the second exhibition is opened, the two overlap with a simultaneous vernissage and a finissage, in other words, precisely at two of the points when alternative space generally attract larger audiences.
Despite the concentration on presentations of individual artists – now also documented in a publication – the artistic tack adopted by the venue also demonstrated an element of openness in March 2008 in an exhibition project organised by Stefan Glettler and Bernhard Rappold with prisoners from the Hirtenberg Prison.
http://www.swingr.be.tt/
7., Salon für Kunstbuch
In his »Salon für Kunstbuch« (»Art Book Salon«), Bernhard Cella, like everyone else who runs a project space, has very little space. For the time being the art book projects he has selected are presented on a very generous scale, but as the principle of his salon is that it is a growing project, the shelves are likely to be filled with selected art books soon. These include early exhibition catalogues by Fabrice Hybert or Bas Jan Ader, an exhibition edition by Lucy McKenzie on sale for 29 Euro and many other finds to be unearthed by browsing and digging through the collection. In an ongoing exchange with international art institutions, Bernhard Cella also takes current exhibition catalogues and publications on commission, which are also for sale, like all the other books. Art theory is still a niche section with a small selection of books (inter alia Sabeth Buchmann, Alain Badiou) but the works will sometimes be presented by the authors themselves as part of the programme of events, as was the case for Sabeth Buchmann’s »Denken gegen das Denken«.
http://www.ostblick.at
7., das weisse haus
If one assumes that an alternative space must be independent and have an experimental thrust in its very structure, then »das weisse haus« would not really belong on this list. It is located in a house made available by a real estate agent and the exhibitions are financed with additional sponsoring. That means this venue can even afford an in-residence flat, made available to international artists and curators. However, the venue is nonetheless reminiscent of an alternative space, which may have something to do with the two initiators of the project, Alexandra Grausam and Elsy Lahner, who to date have been working primarily in the alternative realm with the projects they have curated (see below). A jury with several members is in charge of the exhibition programme for das weisse haus, and selects the artists on the basis of their submissions. Whilst the inaugural exhibition last year was able to tap into a number of intriguing artistic projects (including work by Daniel Hafner, Judith Fegerl or Christoph Weber), it was rather noticeable in the second exhibition that the venue does not (yet?) have a clearly defined substantive concept.
http://www.dasweissehaus.at/
7., WOLKE 7
The focus for the association »Wolke 7« (»Cloud 7«), formed in 2002 by a number of Viennese offices with an interdisciplinary approach is on the »conception, development and implementation of innovative projects in the field of local city district management and urban development «. Between 2004 and 2006 they organised several exhibitions, a short film festival, neighbourhood courtyard parties, panel discussions, workshops and lectures in disused commercial premises in the Kaiserstraße, all within the context of a multi-annual EU pilot project. The association takes a multi-tiered approach, with a view to making the project accessible to key organizers in the public administration, as well as to artists and people from the neighbourhood. However, the exhibitions do not focus on urban development issues as such, but instead aim to revitalize the district thanks to events held in various local cafes and bars.
http://www.wolke7.at/
8., Space Invasion
The »Space Invasion« group, which has been invigorating empty locations with projects by young artists since spring 2006, also shares this goal of breathing life into various city districts on a temporary basis. After a project in office premises near the South Station and in a small passageway on Bauernmarkt in the first district, curators Herbert Justnik and Elsy Lahner are currently using the rooms in what used to be the porter’s flat in the Museum of Ethnography for three solo presentations by various artists.
http://www.spaceinvasion.at
15., Galerie aRtmosphere
Since it was founded in 1999, Galerie aRtmosphere has attracted more attention for its lectures by feminist artists and theoreticians than it has for its exhibitions. Various groups centred around Manuela Schreibmaier, who launched the gallery, have organised events including a lecture by Queer Theory expert Judith Jack Halberstam, a screening by video artist Emma Hedditch and a presentation by the New York artist group LTTR. As budget constraints make it impossible for the gallery to fly speakers in for lectures, the programme spontaneously docks onto programmes organized by larger institutions and draws in audiences at short notice thanks to word-of-mouth buzz.
http://www.artmosphere-vienna.net/
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