ZEIT(LOSE) ZEICHEN

———————-TIME(LESS) SIGNS—————————- Otto Neurath and Reflections in Austrian Contemporary Art

Opening:

Tuesday 30 September 2014, 6.30pm

Austrian Cultural Forum London
28 Rutland Gate
London SW7 1PQ
Tube: Knightsbridge
Buses: 9, 10, 52 & 452

Participating artists:
Bernhard Cella, Ilse Chlan, Hazem El Mestikawy, Harun Farocki, Nikolaus Gansterer, Wilfried Gerstel, Christoph Hinterhuber, Christian Hutzinger, Martin Kaltenbrunner & Günter Geiger & Marcos Alonso & Sergi Jordà, Karl-Heinz Klopf, Matthias Klos, Lena Knilli, Clemens Kogler & Karo Szmit, Richard Kriesche, Gert Linke, open3.at, Bernd Oppl, Olaf Osten, Hermann J. Painitz, Waltraud Palme, Andrea Ressi, Christian Rupp, Sito Schwarzenberger, Niko Wahl, Michael Wegerer, Peter Weibel, Jun Yang and Anthony Burrill (UK).

Kuratorinnen:
Maria Christine Holter und Christopher Burke

Otto Neurath:
“The common citizen should without limitation be able to obtain information about all matters of interest…”

What is the state of art in today’s visual language? Signs, icons and ideograms determine our daily communication; pictographic guidance systems dominate public space. Much of what we understand as visual language originates in Otto Neurath’s Vienna Method of Pictorial Statistics, later known as ISOTYPE (International System of Typographic Picture Education).

This multi-media exhibition, curated by Maria Christine Holter and Christopher Burke, features over 30 contributions from renowned contemporary Austria based artists, whose work is either directly or indirectly inspired by Neurath. The exhibition presents various artistic strategies for using pictograms and pictorial statistics to visualise political, social, global or purely individual agendas. Original works by social economist and Vienna Circle philosopher Neurath (1882 Vienna – 1945 Oxford) will feature alongside contemporary pieces.

© Ilse Chlan, Patterns of economic efficiency

© Christian Rupp, down jones

© Nikolaus Gansterer, Ottos Nightmare

Piktogramme aller Art gehen letztlich auf das bildpädagogische Programm des österreichischen Sozialökonomen und Wiener Kreis Philosophen Otto Neurath (1882 Wien – 1945 Oxford) zurück, welcher die Wiener Methode der Bildstatistik gemeinsam mit dem deutschen Grafiker Gerd Arntz (1900–1988) und seiner späteren Ehefrau Marie Reidemeister (1898–1986) in der Ära des Roten Wiens entwickelt hatte, bevor ihn die politischen Umwälzungen des Februar 1934 ins niederländische und ab 1941 ins englische Exil zwangen.

Die von der Wiener Kunsthistorikerin Maria Christine Holter und Christopher Burke, Historiker für Typographie an der Universität Reading (UK), gestaltete multimediale Ausstellung präsentiert über 30 Positionen renommierter, in Österreich lebender und arbeitender Künstlerinnen und Künstler. Die Arbeiten beziehen sich entweder direkt oder indirekt auf die Errungenschaften Neuraths und illustrieren die vielfältigen Strategien, für die Bildzeichen und -statistiken eingesetzt werden können: für die prägnante Verbildlichung einer politischen, sozialen, globalen oder auch rein individuellen Agenda. Erstmals sind Werke österreichischer Gegenwartskunst gemeinsam mit originalen bildstatistischen Tafeln und Objekten aus dem englischen Nachlass, der Otto & Marie Neurath Isotype Collection, an der Universität Reading (UK) zu sehen.

The exhibition continues until Friday 9 January 2015
Opening times: Monday to Friday, 9.00am – 5.00pm

For further information about the exhibition and project please visit: http://www.acflondon.org

The exhibition is supported by:
Arts Council England, University of Reading, Kuenstlerhaus and Bundeskanzleramt Österreich (BKA)

Katalog:
ZEIT(LOSE) ZEICHEN: Gegenwartskunst in Referenz zu Otto Neurath / TIME(LESS) SIGNS: Contemporary Art in Reference to Otto Neurath; mit Beiträgen von Maria Christine Holter, Christopher Burke u.v.m., dt./engl., Künstlerhaus Wien / Maria C. Holter / Barbara Höller (Hg.), Ausst. Kat. Künstlerhaus k/haus, Wien 2013: ISBN 978–3-900354–39-8; Buchhandelsausgabe: Kerber: Bielefeld/Berlin 2013, ISBN 978–3-86678–792-6

Begleitprogramm:

Tuesday 14 Oct, 7.00pm Austrian Cultural Forum London

Christopher Burke: The ‘Wiener Methode der Bildstatistik’ (ISOTYPE) – between art and design
Part of the Time(less) Signs Exhibition
Christopher Burke, co-editor of the book Isotype: design and contexts, 1925–1971 (2013), will talk about the pictorial language developed by Otto Neurath and his colleagues. As co-founder of the Vienna Circle, Neurath had many talents but he never claimed to be an artist. Yet he was a kind of graphic designer, developing the Vienna Method of Pictorial Statistics (Isotype). He employed German artist Gerd Arntz to depict objects with powerful graphic simplicity in pictograms. Such images have entered popular graphic culture due to their ubiquity on public information signs, while their use in art develops new kinds of meaning.

Thursday 13 Nov, 7.00pm Austrian Cultural Forum London

‘Helping to fight Hitler and his gang’ – films by Otto Neurath & Paul Rotha
This special lecture / screening by Günther Sander will present two rarely seen films produced by Otto Neurath and British filmmaker Paul Rotha: A Few Ounces a Day (1941) and Land of Promise (1945 / 46). Sandner is senior scholar at the Institute Vienna Circle (University of Vienna). He is currently directing a research project on The Politics of Logical Empiricism and has written a biography of Otto Neurath (Otto Neurath. Eine politische Biographie), which will be presented at the ACF London.
 
Wednesday 3 Dec, Austrian Cultural Forum London

5.00pm | Curator-led exhibition tour with Maria C. Holter
7.00pm | Neurath Reloaded: Information Design Now
Erwin K. Bauer, head of the acclaimed Vienna based design office ‘buero bauer’ and lecturer at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna will be in conversation with UK based artist Anthony Burrill and Austrian artist Michael Wegerer, both of whom have artworks presented in the exhibition. The exhibition curator, Maria C. Holter, will moderate the discussion.

Veranstaltungen in englischer Sprache Wegen begrenzter Platzanzahl wird um Anmeldung zu allen Events, insbesondere zur Ausstellungsöffnung gebeten: office@acflondon.org