Werner Feiersinger, Secession 2008
In his photographic works, collages, sculptures, and Contradictions between the dogmatic theoretical demands of classical Modernism and later classical Modernist works in architecture that do not strictly fulfill these demands provide the material for Werner Feiersinger’s work. He is interested in the mystification of Modernism as an embodiment of functionality and rationality, a myth generated by the written statements of prominent figures of the period and by their almost equally dogmatic and hence “uncritical” reception.
Werner Feiersinger, Secession 2008
The sculptor and photographer is not prepared to let this go unnoticed. On the contrary, he is motivated precisely by these inconsistencies and contradictions, producing ambivalent objects and photographs of subject matter that is well enough known but from a surprisingly unconventional point of view capable of bringing different and unexpected aspects to light.
Werner Feiersinger, Secession 2008
The precision with which Feiersinger executes his works is matched by the scope of his preparation, research, and engagement with a given architectural or artistic canon. These are taken mostly from Modernism, ranging from architects like Le Corbusier, who helped to define the canon, through Erich Mendelsohn, whose expressive style subverted the orthodox rules, and on to artists who left their mark on Minimalism: Donald Judd, who focused on mastering the material, but more especially Tony Smith with his anthropomorphic references and Anne Truitt with her associative links, both of whom worked, strictly speaking, against the canon.
Werner Feiersinger, Secession 2008
For Werner Feiersinger, an exhibition in the Secession’s Hauptraum – itself an icon of modern architecture and the “ideal” exhibition space of the white cube – is a fitting challenge. He has made a new work: the delicately curved steel structure (17 m long, 2.80 m tall), a quotation from Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye, becomes the architecturally dominant element, structuring the space. The full-size reconstruction, a detail from the villa’s entrance area, is accurately based on Le Corbusier’s plans, although it differs from the actual building.
Werner Feiersinger, Secession 2008
Around this work, Feiersinger has positioned other new sculptures. His objects are embedded in a complex network of references from the history of art and architecture and from his own life. Ladders, shovels, scaffolding, or equipment for games feign utility; formal associations with tools or means of production are evoked and playful links established. On closer inspection, however, it becomes clear that the objects are thoroughly dysfunctional. They have become emancipated from their ostensible concrete meaning and are going their own ways. This ambivalence, which extends to Feiersinger’s treatment of surfaces, characterizes his works.
Werner Feiersinger, Secession 2008
The same is true of his photographs, which show canonical buildings from architectural history, but from an unorthodox, subjective angle. These “standards” are juxtaposed with structures and situations of architecture in use, presented as being totally equal in value. The photographs thus not only question and undermine a visual convention, but also testify visually to an aesthetic quality identified by Feiersinger in what is supposedly inadequate or inappropriate. Although in understated form, the paradoxical dogma of the undogmatic is a thread running through the whole show.
Exhibition discussion
with Werner Feiersinger and Jörg Heiser
Thursday, 10. 4. 2008, 6.30 p.m.
A Friends of the Secession event
Publication
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WERNER FEIERSINGER 64 pages, 29 color illustrations Author: Barbara Steiner Secession 2008, ISBN 978-3-902592-08-8 Distribution: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walter König ___________________ available in the shop |
WERNER FEIERSINGER, born in 1966 in Brixlegg, Tyrol, lives and works in Vienna.
SOLO SHOWS (selection): 2006 Skulpturen, Schloss Damtschach, Wernberg; 2005 Galerie Martin Janda, Vienna; Österreichisches Kulturforum, Bratislava; 2004 Freespace, Z33, Hasselt, Belgium; 2001 Galerie Martin Janda, Vienna.
GROUP SHOWS (selection): 2007 Hard Rock Walzer - Contemporary Austrian Sculpture, Villa Manin Centro d’Arte Contemporanea, Codroipo, Italy; Adriana Czernin, Werner Feiersinger, Kunstforum Montafon, Schruns; Who remembers where they are from?, Galerie Martin Janda, Vienna; Grund, Künstlerhaus Bregenz; Reduzierte Aussagen, Kunsthaus Mürz, Mürzzuschlag; On Peter Watkins, Galerie Martin Janda, Vienna; 2006 Blasser Schimmer, Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Vienna; 2005 Kollaborationen, Tiroler Kunstpavillon, Innsbruck; Socha A Objekt X., Bratislava; Blickwechsel n°2., MMKK Kärnten, Klagenfurt; In den Wäldern, Kunsthaus Mürz, Mürzzuschlag; Bilder hauen – Skulpuren bauen, ZOOM Kindermuseum, Vienna; Galerie Maerz, Linz; 2004 Tour – Retour, Saint Etienne – Innsbruck, Tiroler Kunstpavillon, Innsbruck; 2003 L´art dans la ville. 9 artistes autrichiens, Saint Etienne, Frankreich; 1996 De Appel Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Installation shots: Werner Kaligofsky
The exhibitions are realized through support of:
Erste Bank – Partner of the Secession
Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur
Wien Kultur
Friends of the Secession
The exhibition is supported by:
Land Tirol - Kultur
Cyberlab
The exhibition Werner Feiersinger is sponsored by Arbeiterkammer Wien.
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