![]() ![]() And he constantly tested all this knowledge and experience of history through his encounters with the public and fellow artists. In music, Franz was very early in appreciating the work of Giacinto Scelsi as well as in embracing the new electronic scene in his town, and so was far beyond the Viennese musical tastes of those days. Freud and Wittgenstein became part of this, as did Viennese Actionism and his reflections on Adolf Loos’s architectural theory. He would read philosophical texts “like fashion magazines,” as Peter Noever once pointed out, and he related to a whole range of Viennese identities and traditions, weaving them all into an original system. Franz reminded us that art’s influence extended far beyond the gallery, that it could be a force with the power to define our existence.įranz’s passion for philosophy, language, and music should be seen with these broader interests and ambitions in mind. In this way, he not only created some of the most stunning sculptures of the past thirty years, setting new boundaries for the three-dimensional, but also changed our praxis of art. I can remember a vast number of such stories, in which Franz would activate artworks in situations and locations that were just slightly off the radar. ![]() This created an original, dynamic space of interaction for the viewer, a mode of reception and engagement that we could only retrospectively recognize as “new.” These moments of surprise created some of the most astonishing photographs: The passersby contributed to and became part of the artwork. Some weeks later he did the same, with the same Passstück, in Chicago. There he asked people walking by to pose with the piece while he photographed them. Years later, in 1991, we went to Moscow when Viktor Misiano invited Franz and Heimo Zobernig to produce an in situ work in connection with one of the first international projects in perestroika Russia, “Apt-Art International.” Franz fabricated one of his Passstück (“adaptives”) sculptures and took it out into the street. These obsessions fueled the kind of interaction that made his work so new. Understanding how objects and artworks come about and are exchanged was essential to him, because he always wanted to transfer ideas, thoughts, and emotions in the most direct way. That was part of his generosity and his way of communicating. He immediately gave mean unknown young curatorsome of the pieces that were turned down, and I still treasure them. The selection of each collage was determined by a debate over cultural politics, and many were rejected. His works commented on recent art movements and other Viennese artists, which was not necessarily pleasant for a well-known gallery that had seen power struggles in its not so distant past. Franz fundamentally questioned the Viennese system and syntax of art. The gallery staff was not prepared for his way of thinking and acting, for his collages and what they meant. But the invitation turned out to be something of a misunderstanding. Stephan was already a major Viennese gallery at the time, and it was reportedly thanks to the support of Reinhard Priessnitz, the poet who was a mentor to Franz and others in 1970s Vienna, that he was invited to show there. I was taken by his work, and we struck up a conversation, fascinating and very particular to him, which continued for years throughout many exciting projects. In this venerable setting, an artist unknown to both myself and the wider public was installing a show. Stephan for an exhibition I was organizing of her work at the Forum Stadtpark in Graz. In 1978, I went to pick up several of Valie Export’s pieces from Vienna’s Galerie Nächst St. ![]() It is this combination that makes his oeuvre both so uniquely appealing and so radical. For Franz, art was always interaction: an intellectual challenge as well as a sublime aesthetic experience. I was always amazed by the way he continually altered our notions of how art functions and what it means. I knew Franz for many years, and for more than two decades I worked closely with him in a variety of roles: as a gallerist, friend, and museum curator. I feel especially privileged to have done so in the case of an artist as outstanding as Franz West. Installation view, Galerie Peter Pakesch, Vienna.ĪS SOMEONE WHO HAS WORKED in the field of art for a long time, and who sees art as an essential part of human identity, I have always found it a great privilege to be able to watch firsthand the gradual development of an artist. Franz West, Wegener Räume 2/6–5/6, 1988, metal, wood, papier- mâché, gauze, paint, plaster, collage. ![]()
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