ART WINDOWS
Selected shop windows in Graz city center became the stage for light installations by national and international artists. A total of nine companies took part in KLANGLICHT 2023 as part of this pilot project and transformed the glass fronts of their stores into temporary art galleries. The resulting “art windows” are symbols of the synergy between art and business, which focuses on, promotes and intensifies the cultural experience in the city.
Works by Miriam Prantl, Raphaela Riepl, NEON GOLDEN, Manfred Erjautz, Stefan Kainbacher and Mehmet Gün and – last but not least – Keith Sonnier were exhibited.
Magazzin in Bürgergasse, GEBA Teppiche in Hans Sachs Gasse, Klammerth in Herrengasse, BoConcept and Brillenquartier on Tummelplatz in Graz, MUR Design Store Graz, Aiola Living in Schmiedgasse and Hotel Kai36 acted as hosts for these diverse artistic contributions.
The works of Bregenz-born artist MIRIAM PRANTL are based on a geometric formal language, straightforwardness and order. She compares her play with lines, color mixtures and pigments to an instrument that has to be tuned until the tone sounds perfect, creating extraordinary symphonies with light and color. Her works “Led-relief comprise 3a” and “Lichtfeld Comprise 2” will be exhibited in the Magazzin shop window in Bürgergasse.
RAPHAELA RIEPL is a visual artist working in the fields of light installation, drawing and experimental film. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts Paris. After graduating in 2010, Riepl went to New York to work in Keith Sonnier’s neon workshop. Since then, neon has been her primary medium. Her works “shell life” and “attract & repel” are exhibited in the shop windows of GEBA Teppiche in Hans-Sachs-Gasse. At KLANGLICHT 2023, Raphaela Riepl will stage the side tunnels of the Schlossbergstollen with her work “tactile memories”.
NEON GOLDEN creates projects in various areas of media art. Their work merges disciplines such as visual, generative, interactive and computer-related art as well as rapid prototyping, performance, architecture and design. Her work “I AM WHAT” confronts visitors with messages that call themselves into question. I AM? I AM WHAT? I AM WHAT I AM. These questions and answers ultimately lead to a critical analysis of their meaning and, in particular, their significance for each individual recipient. Furthermore, it should initiate the start of a discussion about the existence of each individual and the meaning of life.
The work “#NEONEGO” by STEFAN KAINBACHER and MEHMET GÜN addresses self-aggrandizement in the mirror as a social phenomenon of our time. What used to be private is now openly displayed on social networks using cameras and selfie sticks. The mirror object “#NEONEGO” offers a stage for these very moments and at the same time acts as an amplifier. The fragile moment of contemplation is only immortalized forever by being depicted and shared in the infinite memory of social networks. Please take a selfie and share your #neonego – on display in the shop window of Aiola in Graz’s Schmiedgasse.
MANFRED ERJAUTZ, born in Graz in 1966, is a member of the Vienna Secession and the Forum Stadtpark and has received several scholarships and prizes, including the State Scholarship for Fine Arts and the Otto Mauer Prize. Erjautz’s works deal with the experiences of the individual within interwoven and mutually irritating areas such as inside and outside, private and public. By blurring and simultaneously defining boundaries, the real and the fictitious, Erjautz exposes familiar situations as temporary conventions, thereby revealing the mechanisms of society. His work “Thinking about the end as a beginning” will be on display in the BoConcept shop window at Tummelplatz.
The digital artist and light artist STEFAN KAINBACHER has his roots in the international club scene and transfers sensory experiences into art. This transfer is not only expressed in the digital presentation of the respective objects, but is also reflected in the creative process of various works, for example, when an algorithm programmed by the artist uses a laser to laser sweeping images that are very similar to paintings. His work “TRIANGLE” can be found in the Brillenquartier on Tummelplatz.
Since 1968, light has been the preferred means of artistic expression for KEITH SONNIER, who was an important pioneer of the “new sculpture” in the 1970s. Sonnier often combined the neon tube, which until then had mainly belonged to advertising and everyday aesthetics, with materials such as glass, fabric, latex or metal in order to test the sensual and emotional qualities of these materials. “Stop and go / red-blue” is on display in the shop window of Hotel Kai36 on Lendkai.
Design objects relating to the theme of light can be found on display in the MUR Design Store Graz. Installations, light objects and numerous luminaires show the broad spectrum that light covers in the world of design.
We would like to thank all participating businesses for their interest and support of the Klanglicht art windows!