A new exhibition at the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Vienna looks back in every way: “Mapping the 60s” aims to tell “artistic stories from the Mumok collections”. It also includes your own history and brings many re-encounters with icons from the holdings. For example, Dwayne Hanson’s football player or George Segal’s actress sitting at the table immediately recall their own visits to Mumok’s home at the Palais Liechtenstein.
The Museum of Modern Art opened in September 1962 as the Museum of the 20th Century. A room faces an architectural model of the Karl Schwanzer Building, which served as the Austria Pavilion at the Brussels World Fair in 1958 and was later installed in the Schweizergarten, with posters and catalogs of exhibits under founding director Werner Hoffmann. Notable – against the background of the political upheavals of the time, the exhibition is only slightly explained – for example, the exhibition of 250 photographs for “Paris May ’68” was already on view in September 1968. In the next room, co-curator Marianne Doebner harshly criticized Hoffmann’s purchasing policy: only eight artists’ works were purchased – or actually: seven. The fabric print shown by Mathilde Flögl was purchased in the belief that it was from Josef Hoffmann.
Thanks to the Austrian Ludwig Foundation, some of the then deficiencies have recently been compensated by new purchases. The same applies to the section of the exhibition related to Documentary 4 in 1968, in which only five female artists were shown among the 150 participants. A work by the Greek-American painter and graphic artist Chrissa (1933-2013), who was part of this quintet, was acquired in advance of the exhibition, which co-curator Naoko Kaltschmidt now displays “next to a large colored cube. Standing at an angle” by Austrian sculptor and documentary participant Roland Koschl (1932 -2016). Supplemented with additional episodes starting in December and running through February 2026, the collection aims to point out this “glaring difference” in gender representation at the time and “topics such as politics and violence, racism and discrimination” (co-curator Matthias Michalka). can only be achieved.
They approached the Sixties “without the canonical ideas of a great art history” and wanted to “focus on the concept of mapping,” Michalka explained on today’s press tour. “The result is an exhibition in which we consciously approach historical objects piece by piece.” For example, co-curator Heike Eibeldauer assembled 21 of 69 positions from Harald Szeeman’s groundbreaking show “Live in Your Head – When Attitudes Become Form” from 1969, but ultimately “Mapping the 60s” was rearranged primarily internally. It is less about collection and more about presenting new concepts or cross-links.
The performance festival “Anywhere/Here Now” aims to provide more connections with other art fields, social and political issues. There has been a collaboration with the ImPulsTanz festival since 2013, said mumok director Carola Krause. “The colorful festival activity has become an indispensable part of our museum activities.” Curated by Marianne Dobner and Christine Standfest, this time “the Viennese scene of the time is placed in an international context” and confronts the works of eight contemporary choreographers. “The people we invited are in very interesting current positions for us,” Standfest promises. Among them will be Djal Harrell, Dana Michael and Esther Solomon, who will sing a duet with her 80-year-old mother. Live performances aim to enter a dialogue with film performance works from the mumok collection from the 60s and 70s. Works by Carole Schneemann, Chris Burton, Gunter Bruce and Kurt Gren were selected.
New from Friday is the restoration of a permanent presentation of a donation of about 30 works by Friedrich Kiesler from collector couple Gertrud and Dieter Böchner. The focus of the exhibition, supplemented by works from the holdings of the Friedrich and Lilien Kiesler Private Foundation, is the now famous “Endless House” by the Austrian-American architect and designer.
(Service – “Mapping the 60s. Art Stories from the Mumok Collection”, Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, Museum Quarter, July 5, 2024 to February 1, 2026; “Anywhere / Now Here. A Performance Festival”, July 5 to August 11, www.mumok.at)
