The Secession’s summer outdoor program, with projects by Azra Akšamija, Patrick Baumüller/Severin Hofmann and Tatzu Nishi, appeals directly to different publics—including those who may not usually have close (direct) contact with contemporary art. The projects deal with the symbolically charged architecture of the historical building and open the Secession up to the urban space. The result is a space for communication that allows people from different walks of life to enter into a dialog: the protected (and protective) artificial setting of the art institution loses its hermetic closure, representation takes a back seat to production. In contrast to the time-tested status quo of the institution in the tradition of the White Cube, the processual character of these projects creates the possibility not only of pursuing or relaunching discourses in the established art context, but also of actually provoking new discourses.
Azra Akšamija
Kunstmoschee
In her work, the artist and architect of Bosnian origin Azra Akšamija examines Islamic architecture and religion, as well as current forms of religious practice and identity. Her projects show various states and needs of a cosmopolitan generation of Muslims who refer to the underlying traditions of form and function, but who apply them to a contemporary context. This analysis draws on different cultural traditions and forms of art and architecture. One example of this is her design for a “Dirndl mosque”, as well as her current project that refers to the art historical and architectural tradition of the Secession, whose structure and ornament she transforms.
Kunstmoschee is a multifunctional, three-dimensional landscape of carpets in the Secession garden that reinterprets the established forms of Islamic architecture and the representation of religious identities. At the same time, it subtly breaks down the territorial claims of sacred places: on the one hand, prayer turns the modular carpet landscape into a mosque; on the other, social functions and uses turn it into a meeting place and communication forum for persons with different cultural needs. In this way, the installation focuses attention on the wideranging possible uses of mosques between religious and secular functions, and thus on the mosque as a “social” location.
Kunstmoschee revolves around three main concepts: beauty—based on Islamic geometry as a spatial translation of Islamic theory; transformation—via the reinterpretation of the rules of historic mosque architecture in a contemporary context; and flexibility—seen as a modular set consisting of the elements structure, light and shadow, interacting with a particular usage of the space. This also refers to the variable typology of the mosque, which can and must adapt itself to the architectural and programmatic elements of building culture in different countries and cultures.
Kunstmoschee places the focus on the distorted and politicized representation of Islam in Europe, on the aesthetic of Islamic culture and its close historic links with the Christian/European aesthetic. The project will be accompanied by lectures and film evenings.
Concept, idea and design: Azra Akšamija
Architecture and conceptual assistance: Heidi Pretterhofer (Arquitectos)
Baumüller / Hofmann
Die Wursthaberer
With their project Die Wursthaberer, Patrick Baumüller and Severin Hofmann raise issues of securing one’s (artistic) existence and of consumer behavior. In their work, Baumüller and Hofmann deal with everyday practices and reverse familiar orders. As Die Wursthaberer, alongside their comparatively insecure existence as artists, they attempt to establish a lucrative parallel existence as purveyors of luxury sausages. As well as experimenting with new forms of production, the piece is also about sociocultural interaction and examines issues of economic policy. After several years experience as sausagemakers, previously limited to temporary forms of retail and presentation, they will use their appearance at the Secession to operate with extended production methods, enlarging their range over the course of the project. The new products include a porkfree sausage, a gesture towards a different eating culture, inviting visitors to Azra Akšamija’s Kunstmoschee to the sausage stand and vice versa.
Die Wursthaberer sell their wares from a construction site caravan converted for this purpose by Andreas Strauss; in cooperation with [ dy’na:mo ], it promises to become a vibrant place of communication at the interface between art audience, urban public, and tourism.
Concept, idea: Patrick Baumüller, Severin Hofmann feat. Heribert Reich
Caravan design and construction: Andreas Strauss
Intervention Secession Garden and music programme: Peter Nachtnebel and [dy:na’mo]
Tatzu Nishi
„Hier entsteht ein Hotel“
Tatzu Nishi focuses on the Secession as a historic monument by enclosing the iconic dome and transforming it into an exclusive hotel room which reveals itself only to the guest/visitor, while from outside, all that is visible is a construction site situation with a board.
