23 September 2015

Insights into the press preview of viennacontemporary

Today, Dmitry Aksenov (Chairman of the Board of viennacontemporary - on the first image, left), Artistic Director Christina Steinbrecher-Pfandt, and Renger van den Heuvel (Managing Director) invited to the press conference and preview of Vienna's most important art fair viennacontemporary which is open for the public from tomorrow the 24th until 27th September. This year for the first time, viennacontemporary (former Viennafair) is located at the Marx Halle at the city's new media area Neu Marx.

The 19th century industrial building with its light-flooded huge spaces is an advantage for the presentation of contemporary art from 99 galleries from 25 countries with special focus on Bulgaria (picture 2nd row, right: view at the booths of Geukens & De Vil, Belgium and Galerie Ernst Hilger, Vienna/Jersey City) and culture institutions such as Kunsthalle Wien (image 2nd row, left).

Viennacontemporary is a classical fair for the sale of art without one specific motto or title. The gallery collections are very diverse; the topics of the artists' paintings, installations, sculptures, multi-media works vary from booth to booth and artist to artist - it's like walking through the current universe of perceptions of today's world - without any authority which says where it has to go - the only measurement seems to be the quality of art. Alongside to the gallery booths, several culture institutions are represented such as Kunsthalle Wien which installed gift-packages which make think of presents under the Christmas tree. The boxes are wrapped with papers which show the logo of Kunsthalle Wien - an eagle - in different visual interpretations. Beside the gifts stands a donation box for the organization Fluchtweg (Verein Fluchtweg) which supports unaccompanied refugee minors. The image right from the charity-art-installation provides another angle on one of the two halls.

The last row shows (left) the VIP Lounge (created by Steininger Designers) and (picture right) the main road with red carpet and sight to the entrance of viennacontemporary (24 - 27 September) at Marx Halle at Karl-Farkas-Gasse 19.

Side talk: A gallery owner mentioned the double-meaning of the name Marx which makes think of Karl Marx. The whole region where the building is located is named after the evangelist Saint Marx (Mark the Evangelist).


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