schnee stock parade
deutsche Fassung
snow stick parade
english version
 
Oberwart 1998
 
 
textes:
peter nesweda 
franz niegelhell
vitus h. weh
parade
 
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peter nesweda

snow stick parade
oberwart ´98

There has been much discussion recently about the meaning and meaninglessness of art in public space, e.g. in Berlin where an enormous Holocaust memorial was planned and in Vienna where the English artist Rachel Whitread won a competition for a Holocaust Memorial to be situated in Vienna's "Judenplatz". 
During excavation work on the site, remains of an old synagogue, which had been destroyed in previous centuries, 
was discovered and which gives further proof of a long tradition of anti-Semitism in Austria. After a lot of heated discussions, also amongst the Viennese Jewish community, it was decided that two memorials should be erected. 
Art in public spaces is always political, and cannot only be considered according to aesthetic values. The tourist industry, the currently so-called "city marketing" considers art in public spaces from its marketing aspects. 
Anything that doesn't serve to "beautify" a place is considered either useless or bad for business. 
A good example is the war memorial which aggressively dominated the main square of my home town. A few years ago it was replaced by a colourful "Hundertwasser fountain". 
The old enemies have become today's' customers. 
Andreas Lehner, who has had quite a bit of experience as a curator of art in public spaces, no longer relies on eternal values. His art works are temporary interventions that provoke communication processes and are consciousness raising. 
In 1997 in his project "Communal Communication" in Oberwart he renounced all visual production and offered the space given to him by the council for his project to the local restaurateurs who opened up street cafes there instead. From the seven participants, four still run their cafes, which is an amazing result. 

Public space in Oberwart and its uses is the main theme again the project Snow Sticks Parade. Through the use of a temporarily cordoned-off area of the main square and the neighbouring areas with snow sticks old perceptual habits will be broken. The area, which is usually used as a bus stop and parking area for private vehicles, will be experienced completely differently for a 16 day period. 
Andreas Lehner's intervention doesn't intend to convey the "good, true and beautiful". He doesn't wish to be didactic but rather to stimulate discussion. The inhabitants automatically become part of the art process however it may turn out in the end. The transformation from the banalities of everyday to the specialness of art raises consciousness. Vitus H. Weh and Markus Wailand, authors and art critics, who have written "Art on Buildings", have also come to conclusion that the future of art in public space lies in this form of artistic intervention. In an article in "Falter 19/98 " they say that maybe art on public buildings or any form of visual design will fail to function traditionally and will instead offer an environmental and utility analysis. The large amount of open questions also reveals the many possibilities of how to interpret each autonomous art work on public buildings.

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