Recommendations of what to see in the Vienna art scene this month by local guide, Itai Margula. Discover even more on a private tour.
I.
Exhibition: Israel before Israel – Photographs by Ze´ev Aleksandrowicz 1936
Artist: Ze´ev Aleksandrowicz
Venue: Jewish Museum Vienna
Dates: November 22nd to April 1st, 2018
Ze’ev Aleksandrowicz was a Zionist and enthusiastic photographer. Born in Kraków as the son of a paper wholesaler, he also spent a short time as a student in Vienna. Tel Aviv, the first modern Jewish city founded in 1909, exerted a particular fascination on him. Years after his death in 1992, the photos from the 1930s were discovered by chance: more than 15,000 negatives gathering dust in an old suitcase.
Foto: Ze ́ev Aleksandrowicz © Jewish Museum Vienna
II.
Exhibition: MAXIMAL SOFT
Artist: Liesl Raff
Venue: Sophie Tappeiner
Dates: January 18th to March 18th, 2018
Sophie Tappeiner opened her gallery in May 2017. Next to one of Vienna´s ´Gallery Streets' called Seilerstätte, a promising space with auspicious installations. The next exhibition by Liesl Raff – always poetic, always spacial. Liesl Raff (born 1979 in Stuttgart, lives and works in Vienna) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Recent exhibitions and projects include: my moment is now yours at Bob's Pogo Bar, KW Institute of Art, Berlin, DE (in collaboration with Nora Rekade); So do I at One Work Gallery, Vienna, AT; How far to open up at Forum Stadtpark, Graz, AT (2017); A Thousand Friends, Exo Exo at New Jörg, Vienna, AT (2016); Peak Experiences, Shangrila, Joshua Tree, CA, USA (2015); Reflecting Fashion at Mumok, Vienna, AT (2012).
Photo: Liesl Raff © Liesl Raff (artist) Ismini Adami (graphic design)
III.
Exhibition: Specific Objecthood (KW) – Sugar Cravings (CK)
Artists: Kay Walkowiak, Charlotte Klobassa
Venue: Zeller Van Almsick
Dates: Kay Walkowiak (through January 13th) Charlotte Klobassa (through February 22nd)
Magdalena Zeller and Cornelis van Almsick opened their gallery with a wonderful program and a focus on up-and-coming artists in March 2017. Kay Walkowiak´s installation ‘Specific Objecthood’ is based on the formal vocabulary of the Minimal Art. His video installation shows a movie that was shot in Josef Frank´s Villa Beer (1930).
In her ongoing series ‘Scribble’, Charlotte Klobassa draws inspiration from collected pieces of paper she finds in stationary shops. The papers with test scribbles of unknown authorship manifest a very imminent, impulsive and unconscious composition and lend themselves to free association and interpretation.
Photo: Kay Walkowiak © Kay Walkowiak
Photo: Charlotte Klobassa © Charlotte Klobassa