Elisabeth Grübl, 9000 Hz, Photo: Matthias Herrmann


Elisabeth Grübl was intrigued by space from the beginning of her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna where she studied under Bruno Gironcoli from 1990 to 1996. She completed these with a diploma project whose formal and conceptual content would later be developed in the exhibition project at the Secession. In the former, she covered the floor of the available room in the Academy with a red carpet and sealed off the space by fitting a pane of glass into the door frame. A sinus generator was used to produce a low continuous tone of 10,000 Hz. The room was closed off to the viewer: it remained inaccessible and could only be viewed through the glass pane.

A red carpet is also being laid for the first time over the entire space of the Gallery of the Secession. Although this space can be viewed from two sides, it is not visible in its entirety. The carpet is laid on top of a second surface which is installed about 1m above the actual floor. This upper floor is not accessible to the viewer of the installation. It blocks entry into the exhibition space and creates two different spatial levels: a lighted room and a darkroom. Beneath, the space below the carpet is dark and above, on top of the carpet, the space is bright with neon light.

Elisabeth Grübl has combined the exhibition in the Gallery with a sound installation in the Graphic Cabinet. A sinus generator fills this space with 9,000 Hz. The resultant tone acts as an invisible exterior clamp holding together both exhibition spaces - the Gallery and the Graphic Cabinet - with the aid of a notice on the façade of the Secession that transforms the tone into a curt message stating "9,000 Hz". The way Elisabeth Grübl plumbs the chasm between architecture and sculpture in this exhibition and creates an apparently minimalist environment by subtly manipulating the existing exterior and interior spaces is characteristic of most of this artist's work. The exhibition in the Secession is the artist's (who was born in Tamsweg in Salzburg in 1961) first major one-woman-show.

PUBLICATION

ELISABETH GRÜBL 32 pages, 15 colored illustrations, 4 b/w illustrations author: Susanne Neuburger Secession 1998, ISBN 3-900803-97-8 ___________________ available in the shop

We would like to thank:
KUNST BUNDESKANZLERAMT
WIEN KULTUR
Glaxo Wellcome
FUNDER WERKE
FRIENDS OF THE SECESSION

MARCUS GEIGER

EXHIBITION PROGRAM 1998

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