We took a little weekend trip to Linz (the capital of Upper-Austria and the third biggest city in the country) for some art, museums, coffee and rather unexpectedly, an excessive amount of moss.
We went to the caffeteria of the University of the Arts in Linz for some Austrian coffee - it's so much nicer than German coffee, apparently because Austrian's drink coffee for leixure and Germans drink it to fuel work.
Linz is an historic steel industrial city which is trying to reclaim its identity as a centre for culture (I could see plenty of similarities to Sheffield in this regard) and we were reminded multiple times that Linz was awarded European Capital of Culture in 2009. They had this great "Museums Total" deal the weekend we visited, meaning that we could visit seven of the main museums in the city for €17 each. In the end we visited five of them:
The Castle (Art and History) Museum
The Lentos (Modern Art) Museum
The Ars Elctronica (Science/tech/art) Museum
The OK (Modern Art) Museum
The Nordico (History) Museum
Castle Museum
We arrived on Friday afternoon and visited the SchlossMuseum - outside was a giant sculpture of a green boy with a xylophone strapped to his back, holding in his hands and staring into the eyes of his tiny "analytical" self - which had a lego brick strapped to his back. Inside the museum, the moss sculptures continued, with an installation of little green children in a moss landscape.
Next to the installation was a "science lab" where you could look at the moss under a microscope or madnifying glass and feel its texture. What I didn't realise was that the particles of dried moss were going to trigger my asthma and I subsequently spent the next few hours coughing.
The other exhibitions included a section on the natural history of Bavaria, as well as religious artefacts, a whole room full of nativity scenes, and some intricatly decorated furniture.
The following day we visited the Lentos and the Ars Elctornica Museums - both of which also had displays including moss. I exclaimed, rather exasperated "Why is there so much moss everywhere?!" and my boyfriend cheerfully told me that "moos" (Moss) is German slang for money and there is a German expression, which translates as "without moss nothing happnes". I don't think that's why there was so much moss in all of the Linz museums but it was interesting to know.
Lentos Art Museum
This was my favourite of the museums we visited and I really enjoyed the exhibitions which included a "Modern Art through" time exhibition with an emphasis on Austrian artists, starting with the likes of Klimt and ending with upcoming contemporary artists - and an exhibition focussing on climate change and the environment.
The entrance lobby was filled with placards and an anti-capitalist slogan.
I enjoyed how the juxtaposed a Klimt painting (of cows in a stall) from 1900 with a portrait created 17 years later - to show the stark contrast and development of his style.
I really liked this painting by Oscar Kokoschka 'Die Freunde', 1917.
Because of the interesting use of texture, colour and gestural marks to create the texture of the skin and clothing.
I was delighted to see an Egon Schiele original - since he is one of my favourite artists and I studied his work in depth at sixth-form. I am always captivated by his execution of hands and he manages to convey so much emotion through this body part.
In the room focussing on art from the war period, they divided the room into two halves with one side featuring pro-Nazi propaganda and the other anti-Nazi propaganda.
A poster by Herbert Bayer.
A painting by Franz Glaubacker.
I loved this huge abstract painting, 'Le Massacre de la Saint Barthélemy', 1959 by Georges Mathieu. It made me reflect on my own abstract paintings which feature dense textures of layered colour - but I wonder if they could be imrpived by balancing that technique with areas of more muted colours and tones.
Usually I hate Kieth Haring - but I was pleasantly surprised to find a painting 'Red, Yellow, Blue - No, Portrait of Martin', 1987 by him which I quite liked.
There was a couple of artworks which featured flags, which I wanted to think about in relation to my portrait project, as I am currently designing flags for my participants. This drawing, 'Flag 8, Gabun mit Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Finland, Grenada und Georgien aus der series FLAGGEN' by Uli Aigner - was an interesting amalgamation of different national flags.
I was not massively keen on the pink polystyrene warrioress on a ram - but I was interested by the Hessian flags by Andrea Francolini behind (especially in light of my potato sack paintings) and more specifically how they are being displayed as I am currently thinking about how to display the flags that I will eventually create.
I found this installation by Northern-Irish artist, Claire Morgan in the environmental exhibition both disturbing and highly impactful. Claire is trained in taxidermy and created this installation from dead birds (a disclaimer declared that no birds were harmed in the creation of this artwork).
I also watched this video 'PLASTISPHERE' by Schiee & Güntzel, which recorded passers-by reacting to a couple peddling around Thessaloniki promenade throwing litter on the ground. I reflected on the fact that I found the video far more engaging and emotionally resonant because I know the location and I have enjoyed spending time there and value how well maintained it is.
Ars Electronica
This museum was definitely geared towards education and families, but I still enjoyed many of the artistic exhibitions exploring social issues through technological exhibits.
There was an interesting, interactive AI-image manipulation station which we had some fun messing around with.
OK Museum
On Sunday we visited the Ok art museum which featured an installation by Swedish artist, Arvida Byström, which also explored AI art and image generation. Sunday turned out to be the perfect day to visit an installation which featured wooden pews in front of a a hologram stained glass window which showed images of an AI generated nude woman.
The installation was a really beautiful space to sit and contemplate the issues and questions it raised - especially the sexualisation and commodification of women's bodies. One artwork directly contrasted historic portrayal with Acontemporary AI objectification of the female figure.
Nordico Museum
The history museum dedicated an entire floor to Anton Brückner - the "son of the city". I was interested to read that a stature of this famous composer was never materialised due to the controversy of his appropriation by the Nazi reigime - especially given my interest in propaganda and art, and the issue around weaponisation of artist's work in conflict with their original intention.
I'm not a huge fan of classical music but I think Brückner's compositions are quite good. But after reading a feminist comic about his inappropriate behaviour with underage girls or at least inappropriately younger women - I rapidly went off the musician.
This page doesn't require a translation....
In light of this, it felt appropriate to "touch" Toni in this way.
Sketches
The Main Square in Linz
One of the many bridges over the Danube
A church next to the Ars Electornica Museum
A pub/restaurant in Pöstlingberg
Two more sketches from Pöstlingberg (the very tall hill just outside the city centre).
コメント