Dentist, art lover, and a great host – Roberto Lhotka is an extraordinary Austro-Italian, who lives and works in Vienna. I met him at his gorgeous apartment to talk about Vienna, art and one of the biggest AIDS charity events in the world, the Life Ball which he is co-organizing (on 25th of May, save the date!).
Why Mathias Poledna? “Because his work is boiling!” maintains this year’s commissioner of the Austrian pavilion Jasper Sharp. Shortly before the 55th Art Biennale opens its doors, Mathias Poledna’s work “A Village By The Sea” was shown in the Secession in Vienna… Watch the video to get in the right mood for Venice!
I met the Viennese ‘architectural society’ at an opening at the Austrian Culture Forum in New York and had a Schnitzel in the Austrian in-restaurant Edi & Wolf, where Hollywood star Diane Kruger and Ralph Lauren have been spotted. Read about a private party at Nin Brudermann’s (AT) artist loft in Williamsburg, NY in memory …
VIENNAFAIR 2013 turns its curatorial focus toward Austria, to its rich traditions and histories and its contemporary Zeitgeist. A series of research activities, talks, specially commissioned artworks, and performances will attempt to capture – and then rip apart once again – the elusive relationship between art and the psychological and even ethical state known as …
The Austrian media theorist Peter Weibel, director of the ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany, thinks the media, performance and music event donaufestival is the best in Austria (runs until this Sunday, May 4. Click here to check out the upcoming program!): “It’s cutting edge.” I met him in the picturesque city …
Who is this man with these expressive black eyebrows? A lot people might know who, as this German is a big name in the art world: Nicolaus Schafhausen, the new director of Kunsthalle Wien (*1965 in Düsseldorf) and curator of the 6th Bucharest Biennale 2014. The New Contemporary met him for a cup of coffee …
“Imagine if Marianne Faithful and Nikola Tesla had a love child with Jane Birkin as the nanny and Bjork as the wayward Girl Scout leader!” (Ann Magnuson of Paper Magazine about Dorit Chrysler). Dubbed the “Theremin Queen” by Village Voice, Austrian-born Dorit Chrysler is hailed as one of the world’s most accomplished theremin players. I …
Our film series with outstanding and charismatic women in art proceeds. Watch our video interview with the Grande Dame of the international gallery scene: Rosemarie Schwarzwälder.
Another great woman of Vienna’s art scene! Alexandra Grausam likes the idea of alternative art spaces, but as one of the founders of Das Weisse Haus (The White House) she doesn’t want to use the term “offspace”. Das Weisse Haus is an institution. But more than that, it’s young, fresh, and it has definitely become an important …
“Incomprehensible!”, “Fantastic!”, “Boring!” Some were a bit confused, some amused, most people were curious about how the Kunsthalle’s director Schafhausen would start the new era of this institution with the festival What Would Thomas Bernhard Do (WWTBD) in Vienna’s Museumsquartier. See who was there and what happened at the opening… Continue reading »
An overflow of all kind of obligations, like exhibition invitations and other activities, led me to once again escape from Moscow. In search of inspiration and new places – places fascinating enough to attract artists and curators to work for new approaches to art – I visited the steel city Magnitogorsk. Continue reading »
Maybe you have no plans for the weekend yet – then don’t miss the Vienna Gallery Weekend with guided tours and extended opening hours! Yesterday The New Contemporary enjoyed the official opening of this annual must-be-there event at Charim Galerie in Dorotheagasse in the 1st district and Schleifmühlgasse in the 4th district. We met Antonio … Continue reading »
Sigmund Freud, Winona Ryder, Erwin Wurm, Renée Price, Adrian Ghenie and Stefan Sagmeister in the Big Apple … A Sigmund Freud’s Fruit & Nut Bar – no, a Professor (!) Sigmund Freud’s Fruit & Nut Bar (see photos down under) – on a bench in blossoming Central Park loosens up my subconscious in the search … Continue reading »
Under the kind invitation of Czech Centre Vienna and the director Martin Krafl, I travel to Prague, a fairytale setting par excellence, a sophisticated city where time does not seem to matter, but tourism does. I am trying to read The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (a native Czech writer) so I can be forgiven for confusing the memories of the trip … Continue reading »
On the long flight to the presently lonely country, which venerates poetry as the supreme human faculty, I re-read my favorite childhood book “Laili and Majnun“ by Ganjavi Nizami: Love came and ransacked the house / And raised the sword of recklessness / It gave them sorrow and stole their hearts / Giving their hearts … Continue reading »
“When it comes to collecting, international recognition is highly valued.” What potential does the Hungarian contemporary art scene have? Definitely a great one, according to Annamária Molnár, the young and energetic owner of Ani Molnár Gallery and President of the Association of Hungarian Contemporary Art Galleries – a lately renewed initiative that combines local forces … Continue reading »
