Markus Geiger, Secession 1998, Photo: Matthias Herrmann


Curator of the exhibition: Robert Fleck
Assistant curator: Elisabeth Kamenicek
Exhibition structures: Franz West, Heimo Zobernig and Tanja Kogler-Rainer


The Secession
The Association of Visual Artists Vienna Secession was founded in 1897. Its first exhibition took place in 1898, the year the new Secession building was completed. Today, the Secession is the world's oldest gallery devoted entirely to the presentation of modern art. Even today, its primary objective is to show current developments in Austrian and international art.
The Secession invited Robert Fleck to curate an exhibition marking its hundredth anniversary.

A Century of Artistic Freedom
The exhibition entitled "Secession: A Century of Artistic Freedom" will attempt to illustrate many of the leitmotifs of 20th century art - and, indeed, the Secession's own history - with the aid of more than 200 paintings by 130 artists from 17 countries. Alongside paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations, film and video art, the exhibition will also contain a wide range of documentary material. In particular, architectural models, drawings and sketches of the building itself and past exhibitions will be put on view. The aim of this exhibition is to obtain the works of internationally renowned artists that were on show in the gallery from 1898 onwards and to present these in the context of contemporary art.

"It's possible to cover one hundred years in one day by walking from the Künstlerhaus to the Secession" (Robert Musil, Prager Deutsche Presse, June 1922)



Cindy Sherman, "Ohne Titel", Nr.133, 1984, © Monika Sprüth Galerie, Köln, NY


Alongside works by founding members like Gustav Klimt, Kolo Moser and Josef Hoffmann, "A Century of Artistic Freedom" will contain works by such renowned artists as Gustave Courbet, AugusteRodin and Giovanni Segantini who contributed to early Secession exhibitions. Ferdinand Hodler, Edvard Munch and Egon Schiele, all of whom became famous through exhibitions in the Secession, will also be represented. The extent to which the Secession formed a platform for younger artists in the past will become apparent in the cases of artists like Max Beckmann, Wassily Kandinsky, Frederick Kiesler, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian and Pablo Picasso, all of whom exhibited works here at the outset of their careers. Paul Klee, Arnold Schönberg and Oskar Kokoschka, on the other hand, were already presenting retrospective exhibitions in the Secession at a point in time when they were still being rejected by museums.

"Now that it has reached old age, the Secession began sowing its wild oats. Who would have imagined such a thing? I'm speechless! What audacity, what revolutionary élan! So much creativity all at once!" (Alfred Schmeller, Kurier, July 1961, on "Who is Who", the first exhibition of the Viennese Actionists)

Hans Arp, Sonia Delaunay, Jackson Pollock, Pierre Soulages, Andreas Urteil and Fritz Wotruba are the outstanding figures of the early post-war era. The Secession also acted as a "nursery" for the Viennese Actionists and as a home from home for avant-garde artists like Joseph Beuys, Christo and Jeanne Claude, Maria Lassnig, Eugène Leroy, Arnulf Rainer and Rudolf Steiner. From the 'eighties onwards, a series of one-man-shows in the Secession of the works of Georg Baselitz, Daniel Buren, Helmut Federle, Joseph Kosuth, Sol LeWitt, Markus Lüpertz, Brice Marden, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Franz West met with wide international interest.



Joseph Beuys building the installation "Jungfrau Basisraum Nasse Wäsche".
Exhibted during "Expansion. Vierte Internationale Graphikbiennale der Wiener Secession", 1979
Photo: Hans Nevidal, © VBK, Wien


"Sol LeWitt's Environment will Inevitably Disappear Under Layers of Paint but it will, Nevertheless, Linger on in our Memory" (Edelbert Köb, President of the Secession, in the preface to the catalogue of the exhibition, June 1988)

Over the last fifteen years, major environments (some of which are to be reconstructed for the exhibition "A Century of Artistic Freedom" with the aid of models and documentation) and the painting retrospectives of individual artists had an extraordinary impact on local art production. For this reason, it seemed natural to devote more than half of the exhibition space to the art of the past two decades. The scope of this part of the exhibition will range from contributions from artists like Richard Hoeck, Leni Hoffmann, Carsten Höller, Brigitte Kowanz, Andreas Slominski and Jason Rhoades, to promising young talents from the present art scene.

"The exhibition also demonstrates that the Secession, largely because of its democratically run Artists' Association, has been able to maintain its independent and autonomous status up to the present day." (Robert Fleck)


PUBLICATIONS
"A Century of Artistic Freedom" (which contains 240 pages and 380 illustrations) is being published by Prestel Publishers and delineates the development of art and art exhibitions in the course of the 20th century against the background of the Secession's own history. Reproductions of the most important works exhibited there over a period of one hundred years are supplemented by photographic documentation of the artists and exhibitions in the Secession (some of which is being made public for the first time). The essays were written by Iaroslava Boubnova (Sofia), Horst Christoph (Vienna), John Miller (New York), Michel Onfray (Paris) and Robert Fleck (Paris) was responsible for documentation.

	100 JAHRE SECESSION Das Jahrhundert der künstlerischen Freiheit 192 pages, 60 colored illustrations, numerous b/w illustrations Secession, Prestel-Verlag 1998 ___________________ available in the shop
	100 JAHRE SECESSION booklet, french ___________________ available in the shop

EXHIBITION DISCUSSIONS
Exhibition discussions take place in the Secession on every Wednesday at 6 p.m. Personalities from different spheres of art will be talking about their views on the exhibition and the Secession in general. The public is free to express its own opinions in an ensuing dialogue.

Wednesday, 15 April 1998, 6 p.m.
Werner Würtinger, President of the Association of Visual Artists Vienna Secession

Wednesday, 22 April 1998, 6 p.m.
Robert Fleck, curator of the exhibition

Wednesday, 29 April 1998, 6 p.m.
Eleonora Louis, art historian and free-lance exhibition curator

Wednesday, 6 May 1998, 6 p.m.
Otto Kapfinger, architectural academic and author

Wednesday, 13 May 1998, 6 p.m.
Peter Weibel, multi-artist

Wednesday, 20 May 1998, 6 p.m.
Marian Bisanz-Prakken, curator of the Albertina, area Gustav Klimt and Wiener Jahrhundertwende

Wednesday, 27 May 1998, 6 p.m.
Sylvie Liska, President of the Friends of the Secession

Wednesday, 3 June 1998, 6 p.m.
Erwin Wurm, artist

Wednesday, 10 June 1998, 6 p.m.
Kathrin Rhomberg, exhibtion curator in the Secession

Wednesday, 17 June 1998, 6 p.m.
Horst Cristoph, art critic of the weekly magazine "Profil"


LECTURES
The exhibition "A Century of Artistic Freedom" will be marked by a series of lectures by international architectural and art theorists in the Architekturzentrum Wien.
These events will be mounted in co-operation with the Friends of the Secession and the Architekturzentrum Wien.

Monday, 20 April 1998, 7 p.m.
Robert Fleck and Otto Kapfinger - "The Secession as a House of Modern Art"

Monday, 27 April 1998, 7 p.m.
Catherine David - "The Ethics of Presenting Exhibitions Today"
(in English with simulataneous translation into German)

Monday, 4 May 1998, 7 p.m.
Mark Wigley - "The Colour White in Architecture"
(in English with simulatneous translation into German)

Monday, 11 May 1998, 7 p.m.
Michel Onfray - "The Cult of Form"
(in French with simultaneous translation into German)

Venue:
Architekturzentrum Wien, Museumsplatz 1, A-1070 Vienna


SCHOOL CLASSES INTERVIEW ARTISTS
Following a tour of the exhibitions with our induction teams, the students will be able to ask the curator and the participating artists questions. These events will be supported by the ÖKS.

We have invited (in co-operation with the Austrian Culture Service) the curator and nine artists participating in the exhibition to talk about the Secession in discussions with the students. These interviews with artists will take place subsequent to a tour of the entire exhibition with our induction team.

Tuesday, 24 April 1998, 2 p.m.
Robert Fleck - curator of the exhibition

Thursday, 30 April 1998, 2 p.m.
Küng/Margreiter/Poledna/Pumhösl ­ Ohne Titel (Analyse der Berichterstattung zum Mühl-Prozeß), 1991

Tuesday, 5 May 1998, 2 p.m.
Roland Goeschl - "Skulptoraumeinbau" (Modell), 1994

Thursday, 14 May 1998, 2 p.m.
Willi Kopf - Reconstruction of the Ornamental Mouldings by Josef Hoffmann, 1902/1985

Tuesday, 19 May 1998, 2 p.m.
Kurt Krenn - "Action Films", 1964-66

Thursday, 28 May 1998, 2 p.m.
Mathias Hammer - "Olbrich's Spirit hold Taste Strengthener Captive", (2 balls from the dome of the Secession), 1993/94

Thursday, 4 June, 2 p.m.
Otto Zitko - "Without Title" (drawing of the groundplan of the Secession), 1992

Tuesday, 9 June 1998, 2 p.m.
Elke Krystufek - "The Golden Show", 1997 etc., videos

Thursday, 18 June 1998, 2 p.m.
Friedl Kubelka - "Gedankenreihe Cora Pongracz", 1977



We would like to thank:
Erste Bank, Glaxo Wellcome, Basler Versicherung, Ericsson, art pool, museum in progress, Friends of the Secession, ORF - Ö1 Radio, ÖBB, Bundesministerium für auswärtige Angelegenheiten, .Kunst Bundeskanzleramt, Wien Kultur, ÖKS Club



For further information and photographic material please contact:
 
Tamara Schwarzmayr
Secession, Association of Visual Artists Vienna Secession
Friedrichstraße 12, 1010 Vienna
Tel: +43-1-5875307-21, Fax: +43-1-5875307-34
presse@secession.at