For 33 nights, the Viennese art and cultural scene will transform Trieste’s former fish market (Ex Pescheria – Salone degli Incanti) into a catalyst for inspiring encounters between cultural figures from Vienna and Trieste. At the invitation of the city of Trieste, the Viennese Art Salon (Salotto.Vienna) will open there on 1 August 2014, presenting an artistic summer under the artistic direction of the MAK, and curated by Jürgen Weishäupl and his interdisciplinary artprojects team. The Viennese Art Salon will transpose the vibrant atmosphere of the Belle Époque to the beginning of the third millennium.
Visitors are invited to walk through exhibitions and installations, experience contemporary performances, enter into discussions, dance to music, and lose themselves in the Austrian short film. Dialog, delight in conversation, and mutual exchange are central to the salon.
The cities of Vienna and Trieste are united by a long joint history as well as culture and architecture, and consequently by an internationally oriented cultural diversity. Although the relationship has not been without its problems, the city of Trieste is convinced that ongoing cultural and economic exchange offers an opportunity to strengthen this positive connection in the heart of Europe, and that contemporary art is capable of focusing attention on the points that the two cities have in common.
“It is of great significance for the city of Trieste to once again focus on contemporary art. After all, innovation, research, and experimentation constitute the foundation not only of cultural but also of economic development,” says the mayor of Trieste, Roberto Cosolini. Moreover: “Therefore, I felt it was nothing less than ideal when we were able to bring a museum like the MAK on board for this project. The MAK realizes high-quality interdisciplinary artistic projects, and we believe in the idea of ushering in a new heyday in our relations with Vienna on the basis of such projects. This is all the more important in a year when we commemorate the centenary of such a tragic event as the beginning of the First World War. For this reason, we wanted to set a positive example that looks to the future and doesn’t only serve as a reminder of past tragedies,” explains Cosolini.
Trieste’s invitation to the MAK to assume the artistic direction of this ambitious project was gladly accepted by Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Director of the MAK and advocate of interdisciplinary artistic projects. Thun-Hohenstein: “The Viennese Art Salon in Trieste provides a welcome opportunity to portray contemporary creative Vienna from a new perspective. As an internationally renowned multi-disciplinary museum, the MAK appears to be predestined to promote transboundary exchanges between artists from various disciplines. The former fish market on Trieste’s harbor, which in recent times has been used for artistic projects, provides a spectacular stage to present the diversity and the creative potential of Vienna’s art and cultural scenes.”
By using a salon approach, the Viennese Art Salon in Trieste takes up one of Viennese modernism’s favorite formats and uses it to create an inspiring connection between tradition and experimentation—one of the core objectives of the MAK. Like important salons in Vienna around 1900—such as that of Berta Zuckerkandl—the Viennese Art Salon in Trieste provides a platform for stimulating encounters between key personali-ties from various branches of the arts. In Jürgen Weishäupl—an esteemed expert on Vienna’s art scenes who also has ample experience in Italy—the city of Trieste and the MAK have found the ideal producer and curator for this project.
Jürgen Weishäupl is delighted by the positive reaction from Viennese creative artists with regard to working in and with Trieste. He believes the reason for this enthusiasm for Trieste among Vienna’s art scene lies in the profound cultural connections between the two cities. “Instead of showing the original artworks, we were determined to invite the protagonists from Vienna’s interdisciplinary art scene themselves and thereby bring Vienna’s contemporary vibrancy to Trieste through the actual presence and mediation of the artists. We worked in a team with the architecture firm and initiator of the art salon, Giovanni Damiani, to develop the arrangement of the art salon. The focus is on the salon atmosphere, in which people meet, exchange ideas and opinions, and where artists, performers, and the leaders of cultural and economic institutions present their creative work and open it up to discussion. Art needs to regain its Polis. Discourse and first-hand conversations must once again be brought to the center of art’s attention.”
The following is a selection of the Viennese institutions, organizations, galleries, etc. that will be represented: 21erHaus, SR-Archiv österreichischer Popularmusik, ART for ART, Charim Galerie, eSeL.at, go-international – eine Initiative von WKO und bmwfw, Galerie Emanuel Layr, Galerie Krinzinger, Galerie Steinek, GRELLE FORELLE, Haus der Musik, ImPulsTanz, Kunsthalle Wien, Kunst Haus Wien – Museum Hundertwas-ser, KÖR – Kunst im Öffentlichen Raum Wien, Leopold Museum, mediaOpera, Metro-verlag, mica – music austria, MQ – MuseumsQuartier, ORF RadioKulturhaus & Ö1, Österreichische Bundesgärten, Parabol Art Magazine, ROTER TEPPICH für junge Kunst, Skylifter, sound:frame, TQW – Tanzquartier Wien, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Verein Kunst & Welt, Wien Modern, Wien Products, Wiener Stadthalle, and Wiener Wohnen.
Artists, performers, musicians, designers, directors, etc. taking part include Roland Adlassnigg, Josef Aichholzer, Annablume, Matthias van Baaren, Luke Anthony Baio, Matthias Balgavy, Gerald Bast, Andreas Berger, Susanne Bisovsky, Nin Brudermann, Philipp Bruni, casaluce/geiger, CasualClay, Victoria Coeln, Salvo Cuccia, Stephanie Cumming, Johannes Deutsch, Julius Deutschbauer, Paul Divjak, Christoph Dostal, Thomas Draschan, Andreas Eberharter, EDOKO INSTITUTE, Eisnecker, Anna Erb, VALIE EXPORT, EyeM, e:v/a, Luca Faccio, Ursula Feuersinger, Eva Fischer, Michael Fischer, Jeremy Fitton, Bernhard Fleischmann, Georg Flemmich, Andreas Fogarasi, Foxy Twins, Lucas Gehrmann, Sara Glaxia, Silke Grabinger, Manuel Gras, Raffaela Gras, Vanessa Gräfingholt, Gundacker, Martin Hablesreiter, Chris Haring, Daniel Ho-esl, Edgar Honetschläger, Thomas Jakoubek, Dejana Kabiljo, Stefan Kainbacher, Gu-drun Kampl, Erwin Kiennast, Peter Klein, Anna Kohlweis, Gregor Koller, Luma Lau-nisch, Jan Lauth, Anna Leiser, Paul Albert Leitner, Reanne Leuning, Barbara Lindner, liquidloft, Matthias Lošek, LWZ, Marko Lulic, Wolfgang Maderthaner, Brigitte Mang, Gerald Matt, Manfred Matzka, Tina Marilu, Stephan Maurer, Anja Manfredi, Anna Mendelssohn, Christof Moser, Tina Muliar, NEON GOLDEN, nipplefish, Rita Nowak, Stefan Nussbaumer, Georg Öhler, Daniela Papadia, Maria Petrova, PHACE | CON-TEMPORARY MUSIC, PIANODRUM, Klaus Pobitzer, Florian Pochlatko, Simon K. Posch, Rainer Praschak, Antonia Prochaska, Nick und Clemens Prokob, Marlies Pu-cher, Ulrike Putzer, Davide Rampello, Patrick Rampelotto, Ingo Randolf, Veronika Ratzenböck, Meinhard Rauchensteiner, Karl Regensburger, Arthur Resetschnig, Marlene Ropac, Stefan Ruzowitzky, Schmesiér, Marcus Schober, Lorenz Seidler, Bern-hard Sordian, Squalloscope, Udo Staf, Olga Swietlicka, Martina Taig, Croce Taravella, Andreas Taschner, Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Spencer Tunick, Hana Usui, Viktor Vanicek, Federico Vecchi, VIGNETTE COQUETTE – Opera Burlesque, Ingrid Valenti-ni-Wanka, Walking-Chair Design Studio, Peter Weinhäupl, Agent Well, Nives Widauer, Wimmer, Thomas Wohinz, Clemens Wolf, Luisa Ziaja, Matthias Zuder, and more.
There is free admission to all events.
Producer and Curator: Jürgen F. Weishäupl, artprojects Curatorial Team: Giovanni Damiani, Marcello Farabegoli, Giulio Polita
Opening / Opening Ceremony
Friday, 1. August 2014, 7.30 p.m.
Sponsors: ART for ART, Ausonia – stabilimento balneare, echo medienhaus, ETAS High Tech Hardware Systems, Otto Flemmich – Seidenweberei, Fondazione CRTRIESTE, Generali, go-international, Leopold Museum, mediaOpera, MQ – MuseumsQuartier, Savoia Excelsior Palace Trieste, ToolsOnAir – Broadcast Engineering, Wiener Wohnen
