public art
Markus Hofer, Patrick Timm, Omid Darvish& Sarvin Hazin, Martina Tritthart
24/04 – 05/07/2018
curated by Christine Bruckbauer
assisted by Aline Lenzhofer
Venue: Prater Stern, public space in 1020, Vienna
For German Information click here.
With around 200,000 people passing through everyday in order to take the bus, tram, subway or train, Praterstern is one of the most important transit points in Vienna. However rather than just being a hotspot for transportation, it is also an abode for marginalized groups of people such as the homeless or victims of drug abuse, making the Praterstern hit newspaper headlines with mainly negative issues.
In spring and summer 2018 philomena+ realised a series of artistic interventions in this particular public space. By reflecting critically on the problematic issues mentioned above, the Praterstern has been reinvented through four artistic interventions. Even though the approaches and disciplines are diverse, all participating artists worked on socially engaged artworks for the users of the Praterstern. The aim was to conceive projects which would make utopias and dreams at an inhospitable place true.
The art work of the sculptor Markus Hofer are based on familiar, everyday items and materials, which are removed from their original functions through minimal manipulation and they take on new levels of meaning. His interventions in public space are usually very spontaneous, often implemented with little effort, which change the location of the event and focus the view on seemingly insignificant situations. They are intended to irritate the passers-by and put places, which are often not regarded as important, at the centre of attention. These interventions of a sculptural nature are additions that often disappear as quickly as they emerged. Markus Hofer was born in 1977 in Haslach in Upper Austria and studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts with Bruno Gironcoli. He lives and works in Vienna. He designed a PolizeiS (a pun of the German words for police and ice cream) stand with its own PolizeiS flavours for the Prater Stern Stunden project.
The future Hundertwasser Cruise Centre, the Passenger Ship Terminal of Vienna Transdanubia, will provide the Praterstern with a further transportation component. In his works, the artist Patrick Timm, who comes from the port city of Hamburg, questions the themes of ‘phasing out’, ‘departure’, the yearning for distant lands and at the same time ‘entering port’ as synonyms for ‘arrival’ and ‘new beginning’. A harbour master office will be built for the implementation and it will serve the artist as a research station which will be manned daily between 2 pm and 8 pm over a period of four weeks.
Patrick Timm was born in Pinneberg near Hamburg in 1979. He first obtained a masters certificate in roof carpentry before enrolling at the Art Academy in Weißensee in Berlin. Patrick Timm works site-specific, deals with the found environment and develops his artistic works on the basis of research results. His work offers utopias, presents visionary scenarios and makes suggestions for positive changes.
With the sounds, melodies and rhythms created by Omid Darvish and Sarvin Hazin the Vienna Praterstern becomes a place of listening and dreaming, captivating both those who linger and those who pass by. On one hand these sounds can sound exotic as they differ greatly from classic European music. On the other hand they may also evoke a sense of home among those who are familiar with this type of music. Over a period of four weeks the two musicians will come to Vienna Praterstern, roll out a carpet and play on their traditional string instruments such as the Kamancheh and the Tanbur. Passers-by and other visitors are cordially invited to join in, sing along and participate in this transcultural musical performance.
Omid Darvish and Sarvin Hazin were both born in Tehran. Sarvin Hazin is currently studying violin at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and performs the violin and the Kamancheh in different orchestras and musical ensembles. Omid Darvish learned to play the Tanbur and traditional singing back in Iran. In Austria he pursued Jazz singing. Both are part of the Kurdophone Ensemble, which was founded in 2017 by Omid Darvish and brings ancient Kurdish melodies and Western aspects into harmony.
“durch gehend” is a light intervention designed by Martina Tritthart for the passageway at Vienna’s Praterstern leading to Prater Hauptallee. With her poetic light work, the artist wants to defuse the queasy feeling that this location may cause. For some this short dark alley may even be seen as an unsettling and scary place of fear. Antagonizing this, Tritthart wants to create a positive experience among the pedestrians at this site.
Born in Graz the Viennese artist Martina Tritthart has been researching sensual exploration and spatial perception in connection with light as a medium. Besides scientific backgrounds, aspects of phenomenological philosophy and areal awareness are of great interest to her.
Inside the underpass at Praterstern Martina Tritthart projects two overlapping animated visual levels, containing animated words and shapes. The texts refer on the one hand to the current situation – as it is experienced and described – on Praterstern, and on the other hand, reflect moods and feelings of visitors.
Separately they only become readable through shadows, generated by those who pass by.
The play with the light always results in new text-shape combinations. The existing space is permanently reconstituted through the participants and makes them simultaneously recipients and also an integrative part of the new formations.