Pigments with synthetic resin on canvas (painted in rotation), rotary engine, sensor GK 244/2002 Donation of Udo Saldow
in memoriam Lore Saldow
Permanent Collection Contemporary Art
Designing artist: Peter Noever
Permanent Collection space 1993–2012
The place for contemporary artists had to be literally extorted from the museum’s attic. The space is accessed by a staircase
that links the area with the rhythm of the existing exhibition rooms without entirely lifting it from seclusion. Free of aesthetic
conjecture and formalisms, this bright, clearly laid out and undivided, open "studio" space displays select, autonomous, individual
and universal examples of contemporary art production. Torn from their original context, these independent works, installations and sculptures interact with each other in a complex
way and their dynamics, content, and fields of tension create and breathe life into a new spatial and emotional sculpture.
/ Peter Noever (curator of the MAK Contemporary Art Collection during the phase of the reinstallation of the MAK Permanent
Collection in the early 1990s)
A collection of contemporary art should not narrowly define art, but test, seek, and explore its depths. The idea of the founders
of the MAK - Austrian Museum of Applied Arts was to promote the arts and crafts, to contribute to the improvement of taste
and to act as a model; but today, its main concern is to present current events and products from a specific perspective,
to illustrate through its collection the inter-connectedness that arises at the borderline between "fine" and "applied" art.
The Contemporary Art Collection, established in 1986, seeks to confront the art of our own time and to generate a dialogue
with the artists and with the documentation of contemporary art movements. Avoiding a one-sided, museum-oriented appraisal
of art, the Collection will continually address questions and themes relevant to our times. Such uncompromising works as those
by Donald Judd in Stadtpark, Philip Johnson at Schottenring and Franz West on Stubenbrücke, thus exemplify the Collection’s
attempt at greater openness and understanding for art. The MAK Contemporary Art Collection is oriented towards an emphasis on contemporary Austrian artistic production and works
by artists who, through exhibitions and other events, have direct connections with this institution. Since 1995 a major part
of the Collection is on display in the Arenbergpark Flak Tower. Works by Vito Acconci, Herbert Bayer, Günter Brus, Gregor
Eichinger, Heinz Frank, Padhi Friedberger, Bruno Gironcoli, Magdalena Jetelová, Donald Judd, Birgit Jürgenssen, Milan Knizak,
Brigitte Kowanz, Hans Kupelwieser, Heinz Leitner, Christoph Lissy, Helmut Mark, Oswald Oberhuber, Walter Pichler, Arnulf Rainer,
Alfons Schilling, Eva Schlegel, Hubert Schmalix, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Ingeborg Strobl, Mario Terzic, James Turrell, Manfred
Wakolbinger, Hans Weigand, Franz West, and Heimo Zobernig, and many others are shown here alongside experimental architectural
projects and demonstrations by Raimund Abraham, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Günther Domenig, Frank O. Gehry, Zaha Hadid, John Hejduk,
Frederick J. Kiesler, Eric Owen Moss, Rudolph M. Schindler, Carl Pruscha, and Lebbeus Woods. / Peter Noever (curator
of the MAK Contemporary Art Collection during the phase of the reinstallation of the MAK Permanent Collection in the early
1990s)
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Biography
PETER NOEVER
Born 1941 in Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria. Designer. 1986-2011 C.E.O. and Artistic Director of the MAK, Vienna. As its Artistic Director he was in charge of the adaptation and renovation of the MAK from 1988 to 1993 for which it received
the "Museum of the Year Award" from the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, in 1996. Various built architecture and design projects. After the opening of the MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles
in 1996, the realization of the project "CAT - Contemporary Art Tower" is his biggest challenge.
The circa 1,500 works, work groups and bundles of documentation contained in this collection encompass the areas of fine art
and architecture: from avant-garde movements of the 1920s to current artistic stances, the holdings encompass works in various
media such as drawing, painting, photography video and film, as well as objects, sculptures, installations, environments and
architecture-related contributions including designs, models and animations.
On a floor space of 4,000 m2, the MAK Contemporary Art Collection is presented at the MAK Tower, a former flak tower in Arenbergpark in Vienna’s
3rd district.
