Curated by Festival in Vienna: Otto Muehl Retrospective Sparks Controversy Amid Gallery Highlights
The festival "Curated by" commenced in Vienna, showcasing 24 galleries until mid-October. Under the theme "Curated By Love," Galerie Steinek featured "Love's Practitioner," organized by Julika Bosch, which included Meret Oppenheim's gloves and Ja Jess's heels. Curated by Max Dax, Galerie Christine König displayed works from Joseph Kosuth, Nikita Kadan, and Sabine Reuter, whose collages were rediscovered posthumously after her passing in 2005. Erik Schmidt's photographs were on view at Galerie Krinzinger. A retrospective of Otto Muehl (1925–2013) opened at the Wiener Aktionismus Museum, facing criticism for celebrating a controversial figure. Additional happenings included the Astoria Artshow, the Parallel festival, and exhibitions at the Secession, featuring Lenke Rothman's debut show in Vienna, curated by Milan Ther.
Key facts
- Curated by gallery festival opened in Vienna with 24 galleries participating until mid-October.
- Otto Muehl retrospective at Wiener Aktionismus Museum (WAM) opened amid protests; Muehl was a convicted sex offender and Wiener Aktionist (1925–2013).
- WAM director Klaus Albrecht Schröder called Muehl 'the most important Austrian artist who dealt with the civilizational break of the Nazi era.'
- Christine König gallery showed Erik Swars, Joseph Kosuth, Nikita Kadan, and Sabine Reuter, curated by Max Dax.
- Sabine Reuter's exhibition 'Presence of an Absence' is a posthumous rediscovery; she died in 2005 at age 51.
- Galerie Krinzinger presented Erik Schmidt's photographs as an antithesis to the Muehl exhibition.
- Galerie Croy Nielsen hosted Lenke Rothman's first Vienna show, 'The Necessities of Life and the Consequences of Dreams,' curated by Milan Ther.
- Lenke Rothman survived Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz, studied art in Stockholm and Ravenna, and never received due recognition outside Sweden.
Entities
Artists
- Otto Muehl
- Erik Swars
- Christine König
- Joseph Kosuth
- Nikita Kadan
- Sabine Reuter
- Max Dax
- Erik Schmidt
- Lenke Rothman
- Milan Ther
- Meret Oppenheim
- Ja Jess
- Julika Bosch
- Klaus Albrecht Schröder
- Maurizio Cattelan
- Ersan Mondtag
- Marilyn Monroe
- Mikhail Baryshnikov
- Aby Warburg
- Sigmund Freud
Institutions
- Galerie Christine König
- Wiener Aktionismus Museum (WAM)
- Albertina
- Galerie Krinzinger
- Galerie Steinek
- Galerie Croy Nielsen
- Hamburger Kunstverein
- Secession
- Astoria Artshow
- Parallel
- Curated by
- Bildrecht
Locations
- Vienna
- Austria
- Berlin
- Germany
- Stockholm
- Sweden
- Ravenna
- Italy
- Bergen-Belsen
- Auschwitz
- Düsseldorf
- Schleifmühlgasse