museum in progress

museum in progress is a private art association based in Vienna. The association was created in 1990 by Kathrin Messner and Josef Ortner († 2009) with the aim to develop new presentation forms for contemporary art. The projects are implemented in each case on the basis of co-operation between economy, art and media.

Exhibition activity

The exhibition activity of museum in progress concentrates on media and public spaces. For example newspapers, magazines, billboards, building fronts, television and internet are used. The works of art exhibited by museum in progress are specifically created for the medium, dependent on the context and temporary.

This working technique enables museum in progress to overcome the distance between everyday life and places of art as well as to reach a far larger public than traditional museums.^[1]

Projects (selection)

• Art, Society and Media (1994–1996): Symposium with artists, art critics, philosophers and essayists about art, media and the social reality of the 90’s. Contributions were published in Der Standard. Participants: Jean Baudrillard, Pierre Bourdieu, Gilles Deleuze, Carsten Höller, Kasper König, Otto Mühl, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Paul Virilio, et al.
• Billboard (1991–2001): The billboards created by artists were shown in each case on approx. 3000 billboards in Vienna for two months. Participating artists: Jeremy Deller, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Gerwald Rockenschaub, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Rosemarie Trockel, et al.
• DO IT – TV-Version (1995–1996): The cultural show “10 1/2” of the Austrian broadcast (ORF) weekly presented one to three minutes video-clips with “instructions for action”, created by international artists. Participants: Leon Golub, Damien Hirst, Ilya Kabakov, Yoko Ono, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Erwin Wurm, et al.
• Portraits of Artists (1992–2001): A discussion series on video with internationally renowned artists, following an artistic concept of Peter Kogler. Participants: Vito Acconci, Georg Baselitz, Günter Brus, Gilbert & George, Jenny Holzer, Hermann Nitsch, Arnulf Rainer, Lawrence Weiner, Heimo Zobernig, et al.
• Safety Curtain (since 1998): The exhibition series in the Vienna State Opera transforms, in co-operation with Die Presse, the fire wall between stage and auditorium into a temporary showroom for contemporary art. Participating artists: Matthew Barney, Richard Hamilton, Jeff Koons, Maria Lassnig, Cy Twombly, et al.
• Travelling Eye (1995–1996): An exhibition project in the news magazine profil. Participants: John Baldessari, Nan Goldin, Gabriel Orozco, Gerhard Richter, et al.
• With an Open Mind – Tolerance and Diversity (2002): Twelve full-page artistic interventions in the daily papers Der Standard and Süddeutsche Zeitung. Participating artists: Thomas Bayrle, Tacita Dean, Douglas Gordon, Ken Lum, et al.
• Woman/War/Victimage/Resistance (1994–1995): A work in six-parts, which deals with the insufficiently examined Austrian National Socialist past, in particular with the roles of perpetrator and victim. The exhibition series of Nancy Spero was published in Der Standard.

Bibliography

• Daniel Birnbaum, Hans-Ulrich Obrist: Museums on the Move, in: Artforum, summer 2010, pp. 301–306.
• Galleria Continua: Speed & Slowness. Deimantas Narkevicius, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Jeff Preiss and museum in progress, Prato: Gli Ori, 2003.
• Edelbert Köb (Publisher): KünstlerInnen. 50 Gespräche. 50 Positionen zeitgenössischer internationaler Kunst. Videoportraits und Werke, for the exhibition from 28-09 – 30-11-1997 in Kunsthaus Bregenz, Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 1997.
• Margarethe Makovec, Anton Lederer (Ed.): Balkan Konsulat, for the exhibition from October 2002 to November 2003, Frankfurt on the Main: Revolver, 2006.
• museum in progress (Publisher): Modularer Katalog – 10 Jahre museum in progress, 3 vol., Vienna, 2000.
• Cathrin Pichler, Roman Berka (Publisher): TransAct. Transnational Activities in the Cultural Field. Interventionen zur Lage in Österreich. museum in progress, Edition Transfer, Vienna, New York: Springer, 2010.
• Stella Rollig (Publisher): Reise zu den Quellen, 2 vol., Vienna, 1994.
• Johannes Schlebrügge (Publisher): Safety Curtain 1. Kara Walker, published by museum in progress in co-operation with Vienna State Opera, Vienna: P & S, 2000.
• Johannes Schlebrügge (Publisher): Safety Curtain 2. Christine & Irene Hohenbüchler, published by museum in progress in co-operation with Vienna State Opera, Vienna: P & S, 2001.
• Vienna Chamber of Labour, museum in progress (Ed.): Arbeitswelten / Worlds of Work, Vienna, 2005.
• Tobias Wall: Das unmögliche Museum. Zum Verhältnis von Kunst und Kunstmuseen der Gegenwart, Bielefeld: transcript, 2006, pp. 264–269.

Reference

1. ^ Cf. Tobias Wall: Das unmögliche Museum. Zum Verhältnis von Kunst und Kunstmuseen der Gegenwart, Bielefeld: transcript, 2006, p. 265.

External link

Website of museum in progress