Special Presentations 2024
22. to 25. February 2024
ZUMTOBEL presents Tall Glass – James Turrell
Location: Seitenbühne B02
James Turrell is one of the most renowned contemporary artists thanks to the singularity of his artistic approach and his diverse presence in international exhibitions and museums. Since the 1960s, he has dedicated his entire oeuvre to the diverse manifestations of natural and artificial light. Turrell penetrates the limits of human perception by making light tangible as an artistic medium through installations, light spaces and light images. The timelessness and fascination of his works are based above all on the idea of making light tangible as a form of reality without the detour of symbolism or pictorial representation.
In the "Tall Glass" series of works, which was developed using Zumtobel support and technology, the artist creates large-format "light pictures" made of glass as a consistent further development of the spatial installations made of light that have long characterized his work. In a gentle color gradient, a "Tall Glass" focuses the suggestive effect of light on a limited area in the room and thus enables the viewer to experience the extraordinary visual experience typical of James Turrell's work in a private setting.
James Turrell, born in Los Angeles in 1943, studied mathematics, psychology and art, psychology and art. After initial experiments with light and architecture, he expanded his work into large-scale installations, which have been shown in the world's most important museums. His life's work is the transformation of an extinct volcano in the Arizona desert into a Gesamtkunstwerk of space and light. Skyspace Lech was opened in Vorarlberg in 2019.
memory selec+
A digital installation by Gerwald Rockenschaub
An event by the Culture Service of the City of Bregenz in cooperation with Casino Bregenz and STAGE Bregenz
Location: Casino Bregenz
Duration: 14.02 – 29.03.2024
As part of the new art fair on Lake Constance, STAGE Bregenz, and in cooperation with Magazin 4 and the Culture Service of the City of Bregenz, Gerwald Rockenschaub is creating an animation entitled memory selec+, which plays across the facade of Casino Bregenz and will be visible from February 14th to March 29th. Two squares pulsate in a loop on the exterior wall of the casino, with the dynamic effect of the animation increased by the intense colour contrasts of green and pink. With this site-specific installation, Rockenschaub is confronting the architectural conditions of Casino Bregenz and, once again, raising questions about the relationship between the viewer, artwork and space. The result is the emergence of a digital structure that energises the space around the casino and adds a deeper layer to reflections upon the “operating system” of art.
24. and 25. February 2024 at 12:00 PM
Lunch – Tisch 12 x Werkraum Bregenzerwald
Location: Parkstudio, Festspielhaus
Hosted by Matylda Krzykowski (Curator)
A collaboration between Tisch 12 x Werkraum Bregenzerwald in which local, sustainable food meets locally produced furniture and objects. Werkraum Bregenzerwald presents a selection from the rich portfolio of its member companies and Tisch 12 serves a healthy meal for lunch. Pre-registration required here
22. to 25. February 2024
SEE
Lukas Birk, Katharina Fitz, Arno Giesinger, Mathias Kessler, Claudia Larcher, David Murray, Anna und Maria Ritsch
Curator: Verena Kaspar-Eisert
Art facilitates identification and reflection, encourages integration and participation, awareness and transformation. It celebrates the beautiful as much as the ugly, tempts us to fantasise and exposes deception. Art reflects upon and questions the past, the present and the future. Art is an expression of and a projection screen for individuality and community.
Safeguarding, conserving, expanding, researching and educating are core responsibilities of a public museum collection. A collection shapes our cultural understanding of ourselves and of the world around us and reflects the importance of art in a society.
The Vorarlberg-born art historian and Head Curator of the MuseumsQuartier Wien Verena Kaspar-Eisert was invited by STAGE Bregenz and the organisation Bildrecht to select works from the collection of the Province of Vorarlberg. Her focus was the photographic and video works amongst the province’s more recent acquisitions*. The artistic diversity of the region is illustrated by both the broader collection and the range of the selected works: While all the artists work with lens-based media, their approaches to form and content vary widely.
The title of the exhibition SEE alludes to the Bodensee – Lake Constance –, which borders the Festspielhaus and shapes the nature and the culture of the region. This play on words establishes a link between the location of the exhibition and the act of seeing.
There are many different forms of seeing. One can see something from the corner of one’s eye, make out patterns or silhouettes, see through something, catch a glimpse. One can question one’s own perspective, observe analytically, stare at something, or let one’s gaze settle on it. The “seeing view” (Max Imdahl) describes an impartial approach that focusses on the precise consideration of a work of art as opposed to the recognising view, which falls back on preconceived ideas. This small, concentrated exhibition is presented in a way that seeks to favour this attentive form of seeing: By being hung on separate wooden elements, each work is given a lot of space in order to underline the individuality and autonomy of the artistic positions.
In the impressive Propter Homines Room, SEE is offering a small insight into the collecting activities of the province, presenting individual works by eight Vorarlberg artists and inviting visitors to linger awhile as they participate in the act of seeing.
*Art acquisitions by the Province of Vorarlberg: 2016–2018 by Claudia Voit and Peter Niedermair, 2019–2021 by Herta Pümpel and Erhard Witzel
24. February 2024 at 11:00 AM
Einblick Spezial, Opernatelier (English)
Hosted by Bregenz Festival and KUB Opernatelier
Location: Seestudio
In his work, visual artist Hugo Canoilas often creates a special, physical proximity for the viewer. The spatial possibilities offered by the Werkstattbühne to stimulate the perception of the moving audience, were the starting point of Hugo Canoilas’ conversation with composer Éna Brennan and director and librettist David Pountney, from the very beginning. As part of the new art fair STAGE Bregenz, Festival Director Elisabeth Sobotka, artist Hugo Canoilas and KUB Director Thomas D. Trummer, talk about the project and its insights.