OPEN SPACE UNCURATED 09

Exhibition dates: April 14, 2009 - May 14, 2009 Hours: Monday - Saturday, 10:00 am - 6:00 pm

This spring, the Austrian Cultural Forum New York is launching its new project, OPEN SPACE UNCURATED, as an annual event.

For one month, young Austrian artists living in the USA and working in a variety of genres will show works on the theme of CREATIVE MIGRATION at the Austrian Cultural Forum. The common thread is an exploration of the motivations and reasons that prompted these artists and creators to choose the USA as a creative environment.

Migration has always been an important social parameter in the USA, and in Austria as well. Cities like Vienna and New York both owe their unique charm and cultural attraction to their reputation as a melting pot.

As the title OPEN SPACE UNCURATED indicates, the exhibition part is conceived without any curatorial intervention. More than thirty artists from various disciplines responded to the Cultural Forum's call for contributions and submitted their projects. An expert jury including artists, art managers, musicians and academics, was assigned the task of selecting the most interesting works for potential interdisciplinary collaboration.

The objective of the OPEN SPACE UNCURATED project is to break away from museum-style exhibition patterns by giving the artists as much freedom as possible to present their work according to their own ideas.

Producer: Andreas Stadler Project Coordinator: Natascha Boojar Project Consultants: Elisabeth Haider, Michael Karning, Johanna Menne, Kerstin Schuetz-Mueller, Maria Simma

A special thank you to the members of the jury: Barbara BRYAN, Chase GRANOFF, Franz HACKL, Christopher JUST, Mel MERIO, Katharina POSCH, Tina PRESCHITZ, Serge SPITZER, Elga WIMMER, Bettina ZERZA and Joseph ZUTELGTE.

The logo and visual for the OPEN SPACE UNCURATED project was designed by Elisabeth Essl, the winner of a competition among students of the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences' Industrial Design Department (Institute for Design-, and Product Management) sponsored by the Austrian Cultural Forum New York.

Artists Christoph Pepe Auer, Patrizia Ferrara, Walter Fischbacher, Zipora Fried, Johannes Girardoni, Anja Hitzenberger, Patrick Klauss, Melanie Maar, Maria Neckam, Maria Petschnig, Annette Sonnewend, Astrid Steiner , Michael Strasser, and visiting artist Michael Höpfner.

OPEN SPACE UNCURATED 09
CREATIVE MIGRATION / AUSTRIAN ARTISTS IN THE US

Künstler: Christoph Pepe Auer, Patrizia Ferrara, Walter Fischbacher, Zipora Fried, Johannes Girardoni, Anja Hitzenberger, Patrick Klauss, Melanie Maar, Maria Neckam, Maria Petschnig, Annette Sonnewend, Astrid Steiner , Michael Strasser, Michael Höpfner