PORTFOLIO

METRO

An exhibition along Vienna's metro network

Geography Landscapes Cities Studio 2019

Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
with Luna Villanueva

By viewing elements of the urban fabric as potential exhibition spaces and taking the choreography of the metro moving through the city, METRO juxtaposes mundane cityscapes with moments of extraordinary views.

Adapting the surfaces of the city to work as exhibition spaces, we chose seven sites suitable for different artworks depending on their visual accessibility from the moving subway.

A_Facades of buildings along the elevated railway of the U6 are used to project an 8 minutes short film about Saraceno’s Aeroscene.

B_Close to U - Schottenring, the openings along a tunnel towards the Donaukanal are used as frames to exhibit photographs of Ai Weiwei´s, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn.

C_The Facade and structure of an office high-rise close to U - Kaisermühlen are used to install the Oasis N.7 of Haus-Rucker & Co.

D_In Alterlaa the facade of one high-rise of the Wohnpark is used as a surface for one of JR’s big-scale photographic prints, The Wrinkles of the City.

E_The open field of Seestadt/ Aspern gives room to Rachel Witherhead’s Stairs.

F_The flat roof of a bus parking at the Park Stadwildnis Gaudenzer Gürtel works as a pedestal for the Sky Mirror of Anish Kapoor.

G_Franz West’s 4 Larven (Lemurenköpfe) are standing on pedestals in the Wienfluss situated in front of the metro bridge crossing the river diagonally.

The metro is moving around the artwork, and through the exhibition, the viewer is static. We believe that the perception of the artwork changes if one can just see it for a limited time and the movement, is predetermined. Vice versa the perception of the cityscape changes through the juxtaposition of the interventions and their context. By placing the artworks in the open air all around the city, and especially in the suburbs, this exhibition nudges viewers to visit places that are not part of their daily routine and augment their perception of their surroundings.