History of the Austrian Pavilion (Essay, April 2007)
In the middle of the public park, the “Giardini“, on the northeastern edge of the city of Venice stands an austere white building. From November through June it remains hermetically sealed. It is a cross between a warehouse (right nearby are boat garages of a similar design) and an architectural monument. The façade features horizontal waves. It is painted pure white. Above this is a series of windows running all the way around the building. There is a small red sign visible on the left edge of the building. In geometric letters in a modernist font from the 1930s “Wiener Werkstätte” days is the word “AUSTRIA“.
This Austrian Pavilion at the Venice Biennial was built in 1934 according to plans by Josef Hoffmann, one of the founders of the Viennese Secession (1897). It is the 20th century Austrian exhibition building that has had the most enduring effects on the prestige and the careers of exponents of the visual arts. An exhibition in the Austrian Pavilion in Venice was and still is more important for artists than any exhibition in an Austrian museum. This is only one of the factors that make a project in this pavilion an incomparable challenge.
Austrian art lovers traditionally travel “en masse” to Venice for the opening of this pavilion, to a certain extent by special train. This too is not true of any other exhibition. The Pavilion is also an extraterritorial region of the Republic of Austria. The Pavilion has the same status as an embassy building except that here there are no staff. For every Biennial one Commissioner and the artists organize an exhibition, quite alone and independently. This exhibition runs for six months and is then taken down.
A third special feature of this pavilion: there is a particularly great deal at stake; for the artist, an exhibition at the Biennial can mean definitive confirmation of the international status of his work and accordingly a kind of national identification with the artist occurs. He or she is really put to the test in an intensive international competition, but is also representing the country and acting as an example of the country's artistic potential. The fact that the Austrian Biennial Pavilion has enjoyed a good image for many years helps all Austrian artists to be taken seriously at an international level. And this means that every commissioner has a special responsibility.
What have been the important exhibitions in this pavilion? In 1934, the Pavilion's opening year, an exhibition of the Austrian Association of Artists took place, an exhibition without any consequences worth mentioning. This was year one of the ”corporatist class state”, which was trying to please everyone and ended up pleasing no one, because showing only one picture per artist is as good as useless in Venice. After the “Anschluss“ in 1938 the Austrian Pavilion was closed and served as a film backdrop for the Cinecitta, which had been moved out of bomb-threatened Rome. The Austrian artists exhibited in the Pavilion of the Third Reich, the present-day German Pavilion, newly built on Adolf Hitler's instructions after his visit to the 1934 Biennial.
In 1948 Josef Hoffmann, the Pavilion's architect and Austrian Biennial Commissioner of the time, had a stroke of genius. For the Pavilion he chose the work of Egon Schiele, at the time an unknown entity, and who was brought up for discussion internationally through the offices of émigrés in New York; for the sculpture courtyard he selected the work of earlier émigré , Fritz Wotruba, and for the neighboring Yugoslavian Pavilion, that had remained empty, the first international retrospective of Oskar Kokoschka. Despite the fact that the immediate post-War era was inundated by new discoveries it was a resounding success. No other Austrian exhibition is mentioned in works of art criticism as often as this first Biennial Pavilion curated by Josef Hoffmann.
Only in 1962 was Hundertwasser able to match this success, until two more successful pairings, Roland Göschl/Josef Mikl in 1968 (Commissioner Alfred Schmeller) and Hans Hollein/Oswald Oberhuber in 1972 (Commissioner Wilfried Skreiner) brought the Austrian Pavilion back into the limelight. The Austrian Pavilion was once again lastingly established as a significant international statement by the double commissionership of Werner Hofmann and Hans Hollein (1978 and 1980). Commissioners Hans Hollein (1982 through 1990), then, as of 1993, Peter Weibel, Elisabeth Schweeger (2001), Kasper König (2003) and Max Hollein (2005) established a tradition of surprising exhibitions that often altered their environment radically in this pavilion.
This year's international Venice Biennial exhibition curated by Robert Storr features three Austrian artists: VALIE EXPORT, Rainer Ganahl and Franz West. All three made their first crucial international appearance in the Austrian Pavilion in Venice (EXPORT 1980, Ganahl 1999, West 1990). This demonstrates the significance of the Pavilion, as do the international careers of Siegfried Anzinger, Gelatin, Peter Kogler, Maria Lassnig, Arnulf Rainer, Gerwald Rockenschaub and Hans Schabus. In 2003, Bruno Gironcoli received an accolade for the Pavilion designed by Kasper König.
For decades, however, the Austrian Biennial Pavilion in Venice was also the only fixed exhibition and museum building for the visual arts realized by the Republic of Austria after the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy. As a result, the Pavilion in Venice was the only window on the international art world, otherwise largely inaccessible to Austrian artists. Today, the situation has changed. There are in Austria half a dozen museums and exhibition halls featuring programs that have earned international respect. But the Austrian Pavilion in Venice is the only Austrian exhibition location with a long-standing international tradition.
The most important aspect is the beauty of the exhibition situation created by Josef Hoffmann. There are only a few museum and exhibition buildings that every artist and exhibition organizer wants to get to grips with at some time or another. The Pavilion is one of them. It was designed in a very short space of time in 1934 at Josef Hoffmann’s drawing board and was put up in lightning speed because, in May 1934, the "class state" under Engelbert Dollfuss wanted to demonstrate Austria's national independence and its alliance with Mussolini's Italy. But what counts is the intensity of its modernist vocabulary. The simplicity and down-to-earth quality of the Pavilion is a downright challenge to adopt a free artistic approach to the exhibition architecture.
Paradoxically however, the most beautiful and effective solo exhibition by an Austrian artist at the Venice Biennial took place outside the Pavilion. It was the Gustav Klimt retrospective in 1910. The Hungarian, Bohemian and Moravian sections of the Habsburg monarchy had already set up their own national pavilions in 1909, something that the Austrian states had not managed. So in 1910 the Italian jury invited Gustav Klimt to a retrospective in the international pavilion. Klimt’s finest exhibition in his lifetime exerted an influence throughout the world. Here too, Josef Hoffmann was involved through the “Wiener Werkstätte” co-founded by him that designed this first " White Cube" at the Venice Biennial.
Robert Fleck (c 2007)
Especial thanks to Adolf Holubowsky, in charge of architecture at the Pavilion for many years, for his advice and documentation.
Note 1. In 1993 Peter Weibel therefore called the first Austrian Pavilion organized by him “Stellvertreter“ (proxy), because, in Gerwald Rockenschaub, Christian Philipp Müller and Andrea Fraser he invited three artists of different nationalities for the first time in the history of the Pavilion to date. It was the beginning of the boom in "institutional criticism " in Austrian art in the 1990s.
⇒ How do you create a Biennial pavilion? (Jan. 2007)
⇒ The Austrian Pavilion
⇒ Artists and Commissioners of the last 30 years:
⇒ What does a national pavilion offer? (Essay, Feb. 2007)
⇒ History of the Austrian Pavilion (Essay, April 2007)
⇒ Herbert Brandl - Austrian Pavilion - 52nd. International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia
In the middle of the public park, the “Giardini“, on the northeastern edge of the city of Venice stands an austere white building. From November through June it remains hermetically sealed. It is a cross between a warehouse (right nearby are boat garages of a similar design) and an architectural monument. The façade features horizontal waves. It is painted pure white. Above this is a series of windows running all the way around the building. There is a small red sign visible on the left edge of the building. In geometric letters in a modernist font from the 1930s “Wiener Werkstätte” days is the word “AUSTRIA“.
This Austrian Pavilion at the Venice Biennial was built in 1934 according to plans by Josef Hoffmann, one of the founders of the Viennese Secession (1897). It is the 20th century Austrian exhibition building that has had the most enduring effects on the prestige and the careers of exponents of the visual arts. An exhibition in the Austrian Pavilion in Venice was and still is more important for artists than any exhibition in an Austrian museum. This is only one of the factors that make a project in this pavilion an incomparable challenge.
Austrian art lovers traditionally travel “en masse” to Venice for the opening of this pavilion, to a certain extent by special train. This too is not true of any other exhibition. The Pavilion is also an extraterritorial region of the Republic of Austria. The Pavilion has the same status as an embassy building except that here there are no staff. For every Biennial one Commissioner and the artists organize an exhibition, quite alone and independently. This exhibition runs for six months and is then taken down.
A third special feature of this pavilion: there is a particularly great deal at stake; for the artist, an exhibition at the Biennial can mean definitive confirmation of the international status of his work and accordingly a kind of national identification with the artist occurs. He or she is really put to the test in an intensive international competition, but is also representing the country and acting as an example of the country's artistic potential. The fact that the Austrian Biennial Pavilion has enjoyed a good image for many years helps all Austrian artists to be taken seriously at an international level. And this means that every commissioner has a special responsibility.
What have been the important exhibitions in this pavilion? In 1934, the Pavilion's opening year, an exhibition of the Austrian Association of Artists took place, an exhibition without any consequences worth mentioning. This was year one of the ”corporatist class state”, which was trying to please everyone and ended up pleasing no one, because showing only one picture per artist is as good as useless in Venice. After the “Anschluss“ in 1938 the Austrian Pavilion was closed and served as a film backdrop for the Cinecitta, which had been moved out of bomb-threatened Rome. The Austrian artists exhibited in the Pavilion of the Third Reich, the present-day German Pavilion, newly built on Adolf Hitler's instructions after his visit to the 1934 Biennial.
In 1948 Josef Hoffmann, the Pavilion's architect and Austrian Biennial Commissioner of the time, had a stroke of genius. For the Pavilion he chose the work of Egon Schiele, at the time an unknown entity, and who was brought up for discussion internationally through the offices of émigrés in New York; for the sculpture courtyard he selected the work of earlier émigré , Fritz Wotruba, and for the neighboring Yugoslavian Pavilion, that had remained empty, the first international retrospective of Oskar Kokoschka. Despite the fact that the immediate post-War era was inundated by new discoveries it was a resounding success. No other Austrian exhibition is mentioned in works of art criticism as often as this first Biennial Pavilion curated by Josef Hoffmann.
Only in 1962 was Hundertwasser able to match this success, until two more successful pairings, Roland Göschl/Josef Mikl in 1968 (Commissioner Alfred Schmeller) and Hans Hollein/Oswald Oberhuber in 1972 (Commissioner Wilfried Skreiner) brought the Austrian Pavilion back into the limelight. The Austrian Pavilion was once again lastingly established as a significant international statement by the double commissionership of Werner Hofmann and Hans Hollein (1978 and 1980). Commissioners Hans Hollein (1982 through 1990), then, as of 1993, Peter Weibel, Elisabeth Schweeger (2001), Kasper König (2003) and Max Hollein (2005) established a tradition of surprising exhibitions that often altered their environment radically in this pavilion.
This year's international Venice Biennial exhibition curated by Robert Storr features three Austrian artists: VALIE EXPORT, Rainer Ganahl and Franz West. All three made their first crucial international appearance in the Austrian Pavilion in Venice (EXPORT 1980, Ganahl 1999, West 1990). This demonstrates the significance of the Pavilion, as do the international careers of Siegfried Anzinger, Gelatin, Peter Kogler, Maria Lassnig, Arnulf Rainer, Gerwald Rockenschaub and Hans Schabus. In 2003, Bruno Gironcoli received an accolade for the Pavilion designed by Kasper König.
For decades, however, the Austrian Biennial Pavilion in Venice was also the only fixed exhibition and museum building for the visual arts realized by the Republic of Austria after the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy. As a result, the Pavilion in Venice was the only window on the international art world, otherwise largely inaccessible to Austrian artists. Today, the situation has changed. There are in Austria half a dozen museums and exhibition halls featuring programs that have earned international respect. But the Austrian Pavilion in Venice is the only Austrian exhibition location with a long-standing international tradition.
The most important aspect is the beauty of the exhibition situation created by Josef Hoffmann. There are only a few museum and exhibition buildings that every artist and exhibition organizer wants to get to grips with at some time or another. The Pavilion is one of them. It was designed in a very short space of time in 1934 at Josef Hoffmann’s drawing board and was put up in lightning speed because, in May 1934, the "class state" under Engelbert Dollfuss wanted to demonstrate Austria's national independence and its alliance with Mussolini's Italy. But what counts is the intensity of its modernist vocabulary. The simplicity and down-to-earth quality of the Pavilion is a downright challenge to adopt a free artistic approach to the exhibition architecture.
Paradoxically however, the most beautiful and effective solo exhibition by an Austrian artist at the Venice Biennial took place outside the Pavilion. It was the Gustav Klimt retrospective in 1910. The Hungarian, Bohemian and Moravian sections of the Habsburg monarchy had already set up their own national pavilions in 1909, something that the Austrian states had not managed. So in 1910 the Italian jury invited Gustav Klimt to a retrospective in the international pavilion. Klimt’s finest exhibition in his lifetime exerted an influence throughout the world. Here too, Josef Hoffmann was involved through the “Wiener Werkstätte” co-founded by him that designed this first " White Cube" at the Venice Biennial.
Robert Fleck (c 2007)
Especial thanks to Adolf Holubowsky, in charge of architecture at the Pavilion for many years, for his advice and documentation.
Note 1. In 1993 Peter Weibel therefore called the first Austrian Pavilion organized by him “Stellvertreter“ (proxy), because, in Gerwald Rockenschaub, Christian Philipp Müller and Andrea Fraser he invited three artists of different nationalities for the first time in the history of the Pavilion to date. It was the beginning of the boom in "institutional criticism " in Austrian art in the 1990s.
⇒ How do you create a Biennial pavilion? (Jan. 2007)
⇒ The Austrian Pavilion
⇒ Artists and Commissioners of the last 30 years:
⇒ What does a national pavilion offer? (Essay, Feb. 2007)
⇒ History of the Austrian Pavilion (Essay, April 2007)
⇒ Herbert Brandl - Austrian Pavilion - 52nd. International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia
