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.