Photo Arsenal Vienna Heads Towards Opening
Where trucks once set off for the opera, Vienna is getting a new exhibition house: The Foto Arsenal Vienna in the eponymous area in Vienna-Landstraße will become the center for photography and lens-based media. "We have turned a VW Beetle into a Rolls Royce," says Felix Hoffmann, the artistic director of the house, which will open on March 21 with "Magnum. A World of Photography" and a solo exhibition by Simon Lehner. The whole city is invited. "We are a democratic house!"
Landstraße to Feature Foto Arsenal Vienna in the Future
In the red brick buildings of Object 19 in the Arsenal, drilling, grinding, and screwing are still ongoing. The reception counter is still being completed. A restaurant operator is still being sought. A shop will also not be missing. Since 2022, the Foto Arsenal Vienna has resided in the Museumsquartier. Two weeks ago, after an 18-month renovation phase, they moved into the light-flooded, new offices, Hoffmann tells during the APA visit. The art will arrive next Monday. "We are totally happy," says the artistic director about the move, "because it gets its own visibility."
He is in the best company. The new exhibition house is embedded in a cultural environment. "Behind me are the rehearsal stages of the Burgtheater and there the opera workshops, and together with the Museum of Military History and the Austrian Film Museum LAB, a new cultural cluster is emerging here," emphasizes Hoffmann. All this in the midst of the most significant building group of Romantic Historicism in Vienna, which was once an imperial arms factory.
Where photography now gets its stage, workshop buildings were already located in the 19th century on the military-used Arsenal grounds. At the end of the 1950s, the workshops of the Austrian Federal Theaters, today ART for ART, with their distinctive painting halls were built. The building part that now houses the exhibition house was used as a vehicle readiness for the rehearsal stages of the Burgtheater and the opera workshops.
FM4 Party and Food Trucks at Opening
"We can exhibit loans from MoMA and Tate," says Hoffmann during a tour of the still empty and modern-looking exhibition rooms, which will be ceremoniously opened in 14 days with an FM4 party and food trucks. "The thing is high-tech," he emphasizes, "every spotlight can be dimmed to half a lux, it is state of the art." Initiated by the city of Vienna in autumn 2022, three million euros were invested in the project. "Sporty," says Hoffmann, considering what this technology costs.
The premises are fully air-conditioned with their own humidification and dehumidification system. A low-temperature underfloor heating system controls the heat supply of the existing district heating connection separately for each room, with its pipes insulated to keep heat losses as low as possible.
Up to ten exhibitions per year are planned to cover the entire spectrum of the medium. There will always be one large and one small exhibition. The start is dedicated to "Magnum. A World of Photography" (March 22 to June 1), focusing on the legendary images of the photo agency founded in 1947, which has shaped international photojournalism and produced iconic images: James Dean with a cigarette on Times Square. Marilyn Monroe in the Nevada desert.
Capa, Morath, Lessing
Over 300 exhibits will illuminate the processes behind world-famous images. Works by icons like Robert Capa and also the two Austrian Magnum photographers Inge Morath and Erich Lessing. At the same time, a small solo exhibition is dedicated to the 29-year-old Viennese Simon Lehner, titled "Clean Thoughts. Clean Images.": "From the transformation of personal photo archives into newly interpreted digital spaces, Simon Lehner generates motifs that incorporate pop-cultural, art-historical, and personal image references," according to the press release.
"Now we are going a bit broader," says the image and cultural scientist who came from Berlin to Vienna three years ago to lead the new institution. "In the Museumsquartier, we were very specific; here we will broaden our scope to attract people through this broad appeal." Because, as Hoffmann knows, "the major drawback is the lack of public infrastructure" at the new location. The nearest supermarket is currently as far away as the nearest tram station.
For children and teenagers, a darkroom, a library, and seminar rooms have been set up. In the summer, picnic baskets will be made available. They plan to come up with many new ideas and are cautiously optimistic. "The city's idea was to live a form of decentralization in Vienna," says the new master of Object 19. "This is now getting its own face."
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.