28 July 2023

Vienna Insight: Jakob Kattner, founder of Calle Libre - Festival for Urban Aesthetics, invited to the opening event at AG18 Gallery

Yesterday, Fashion.at attended the opening event of the Calle Libre - Festival for Urban Aesthetics at the AG18 Gallery, where the vernissage of the exhibition VI(E)-SÃO took place. VI(E)-SÃO presents selected works by Brazilian artist Daniel Melim - mixed media consisting of a fusion of graphics, typography and painting, and the Argentinian in Brazil living painter TEC. The exhibition is the first part of the collaboration between Calle Libre and the Brazilian gallery Choque Cultural, which will be continued in autumn with an exhibition of works by artists from Vienna in São Paulo.

When Fashion.at arrived at Annagasse 18 (AG18) in Vienna's 1st district, Jakob Kattner, founder of the Calle Libre festival and initiator of the collaboration with Choque Cultural, was standing in front of the gallery giving an interview. He was undoubtedly a sought-after person that evening. Fashion.at used the time and walked through the rooms of the gallery, where alongside the works of TEC and Daniel Melim, other artists were also on display, such as Boicut from Vienna, who is also known for his collaborations with labels such as Remington, Levis or Converse. Daniel Melim's works are the most expensive and the most impressive that Fashion.at saw that evening: a painting called 'Resistencia', in which a red color drips like blood over the graphic representation of two people, size 150x100 cm, is offered for 6800 euros, or the card game-like representation of two female nudes called 'Damas de Carlos', size 120x220 cm, for 8500 euros.

By the time Fashion.at left the gallery, Jakob Kattner had finished his interview. In the conversation with Fashion.at, the founder of the festival talked about the beginnings and his motivation to create 'Calle Libre'. After Jakob Kattner finished his studies in Fine Arts, he joined the doctoral program at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and focused on his dissertation about Urban Art in South America. Therefore he traveled for months through the countries of South America, collecting experiences and immersing himself in the street art scenes of metropolises like Bogota or Mexico City. The experiences and interviews are documented in a film, which, as Fashion.at learned yesterday, is not accessible for the public. While working on the topic of urban art from a scientific point of view, Jakob Kattner already developed the festival in Austria and named it after the idea of a free space in the streets 'Calle Libre'. In 2021 he spoke at TEDxInnsbruck about his vision to transform the public space of a city through art (video). In the video from three years ago, he already mentioned the next target area of the festival, the access of urban art to museums and galleries. The collaboration with Choque Cultural is one of these steps into the future of the festival, to be present in the streets as well as in galleries and museums. Calle Libre celebrates its 10th anniversary this year and has been included in the Google Arts & Culture online exhibitions (article).

Image: At the end of the interview, Fashion.at asked Jakob Kattner for a picture in front of the AG18 Gallery at Annagasse 18 in Vienna's 1st district.

Tip: Parallel to the exhibition at AG18, the Brazilian artist Daniel Melim is creating an artwork on a wall at Abelegasse 29 in Vienna's 16th district; details at callelibre.at/2023/artists/danielmelim.