BEWEIS NR.4: JEDE/R MENSCH IST EIN/E KÜNSTLER/IN
/ PROOF No.4: EVERYONE IS AN ARTIST

Secession, Vienna, 2006

In collaboration with the Friends of The Secession, Volkshilfe Beschäftigunginitiativen (Volkshilfe Employment Initiative) and the following individuals: Dr. Paul Ferstel, Elisabeth Hochhold, Nicole Kapaun, Martin Kufner, Benedikt Ledebur, Dr. Martin Maxl, Patricia Nejes, Milica Petrovic, Franziska Poisinger, Maria Polak, Nicole Riegle, Dr. Johannes Schlebrügge, Beate Shala, Carina Sieber, Leo and Renata Sikoronja, Andra Spallart, Friedrich Tietjen, Dr. Ulrike Tropper, and Bernhard Winkler. Project production: Anette Freudenberger, Sylvie Liska, Melanie Ohnemus.

A project for Secession, an installation created in collaboration with approximately twenty people, a social experiment with consequences for one’s ethics and aesthetics. The experiment evolved into creating an exhibition which mixed together professional and non-professional art works in order to prove how difficult it is to distinguish among them. It also made persons belonging to opposed social classes meet and work creatively together for several hours.

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Formally, the project resulted in the recreation of the setting of a historical art/literary salon. This playing with form was so effective that most tourists visiting the show were convinced that they had visited an authentic Viennese salon from the late 19th century. Due to the great interest in the Vienna Secession, thousands of tourists flood permanently the Secession building itself to see the renowned Klimt frieze permanently exhibited there. This very confusion fit in perfectly with the core idea of the project, which was primarily envisaged as a social experiment. Just as historical salons in German-speaking countries undermined the class and racial discriminations of those times, so the intention of this project was critically to re-examine the accessibility of culture and art creation to the various members of contemporary democratic society.

The Graphic Cabinet of the Secession was transformed by installation elements into the salon of a hypothetical art lover and collector. A wall text posted on the entrance stairwell invited visitors to explore the installation, in which artworks created by ordinary people, amateurs, were placed facing real artworks, created by professional artists. Visitors were invited to determine if they could tell which artworks were by amateurs and which by professional artists, and see if the proposition that everyone is an artist was proven.

The amateur artworks in the installation were created during collaboration with the clients of the Volkshilfe Employment Initiative. I offered an art workshop to their clients/protégés there on the theme of self-portraits, during which, through learning to draw, paint and being introduced to conceptual art practices, they would develop their creativity and self-empowerment. We worked for two weeks with ten participants, applying the teaching methods that are conducted at art academies. I helped each participant develop their own artistic expression. The participants were all also aware of the context of the project and our intention to show their artworks alongside professional pieces in order to prove that creativity knows no boundaries. One part of the creative process involved communicating the basic and socially progressive ideas of Joseph Beuys.

The works of the professional artists included in this installation were borrowed from nine members of the Friends of the Secession. The installation included their personal furniture, art objects and artworks from their private collections. I invited a select number of members of the Friends of the Secession to help prove the proposition that everyone is an artist. They were invited to help create and furnish the setting that would house the artworks produced in my Volkshilfeworkshop. Every day after the workshop, I would meet with one of the Friends of the Secession and show them photos of the works in progress, which would help guide them in choosing artworks from their collection to lend for the installation.

The context and the purpose of the project were explained in detail and presented to all participants, so that each person could act accordingly to help prove the theory that everyone is an artist. The two groups of participants met for the first time on April, 28th 2006 at a happening which was closed to the public. All the project participants worked together in placing the artworks and objects in the salon setting. The happening lasted three hours, and a group photo was taken in front of the Secession building. The premise of the social experiment was that the interaction between the two groups would have an impact on the design of the installation and that their collaboration would make the proof 'authentic'. Later, an acoustic recording of the happening was played as part of the installation, which enabled the audience to understand the process in which the setting was created. An important part in the process of the creative empowerment of the participants was an explanation of the basic, socially progressive idea of the project, according to which each person is an artist, and to move from the teaching of drawing to the area of cultural and political emancipation and democratization of art production.

Some observations on the social experiment can be added here. At the very beginning of our joint happening, as a mediator and observer of the interaction between the two groups, I could feel the extreme tension and unease which filled the space. But as we started working together and discussing and planning the details of the installation, the initial discomfort was gradually overcome. Each person was responsible for setting up their own artwork, so that everyone could contribute individually to help prove the dictum. During the process, I witnessed what I found to be deeply touching conversations and encounters, in which poor and rich communicated as equal partners. On the other hand, it was apparent that some were not able to cross the imposed social barriers during the meeting, and that some members of the nouveau riche were reluctant to communicate at all.

The democratization of exhibition spaces is an important part of my (artistic) mission, as I stated in my short text “Ethics for Artists” of 2004. This means bringing art into contact with people who would not otherwise have that chance. Therefore, I made a special effort to motivate the participants to invite their friends and family to see the show. At the opening of the salon, the exhibition space was filled with friends of the Volkshilfe participants, who did not feel comfortable enough to visit the other two exhibition venues in the Secession building. I also noticed this with the 'regular' art crowd and professionals who were hesitant to enter our salon. Later on, when I was organizing free entry for friends and family of the project participants, I had to clear several administrative hurdles. The same happened during the organization of a guided tour for other clients/protégés of Volkshilfe, our partner in the project. The organized tour visited our exhibition as well as other two shows on view in the Secession. There were approximately 40 people in the group, mostly workers, and one group came in dirty work clothes, which for me was a great development. However, I was not allowed to photograph the tour, not even for my portfolio. I was told that it would undermine the copyrights of the other artists whose works were on display in the Secession building (as if they had asked them about it). I did manage to shoot a few photos of my own exhibition but did not obtain permission to publish them.

RELATED 
Secession Wien, Secession – Archiv

GENRE&FORMATS 
Project: participatory-documentary and communication art project; project with specific social groups; exhibition-environment. Artwork/s and artifacts: workshop and individual talks; exhibition included audio installation, wall painting with text by Kristina Leko as well as further art works, photographs, drawings, paintings, sculptures, objects by participants.

CREDITS 
Secession Team: Melanie Ohnemus, curator, Annette Freudenberger, curator, Sylvie Liska, communication, organization, Daniela Billner, assistant, Urte Schmitt-Ulms, communication; Andrei Galtsov, Wilhelm Montibeller, Florian Miedl, exhibition set up. Publication: Barbara Steiner, text; Melanie Ohnemus, editing; Matthias Herrmann, foreword. Cooperation Partners: Friends of the Secession, Volkshilfe Beschäftigunginitiativen Wien. Additional support: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, Cultural Office to the City of Zagreb. Photos: Exhibition views: Hannes Böck; Happening: Susanne Rezniczek; Workshops, Audiences: Kristina Leko.

 

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