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3/12/2002

Acconci Studio

Austrian Cultural Forum, New York

'The Making of an Island'

December 2002 ART&IDEA is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition 'Acconci Studio-The Making of an Island' at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York. The exhibition documents the design and construction of an 'Island of Water' - an interactive, multifunctional piazza for the new millennium on the river Mur in Graz, Austria, including a floating theatre, playground and café/bar.

Within the framework of the celebration of 'Graz 2003 - European Capital of Culture', Vito Acconci/ Acconci Studio (Design/ Architectural Implementation) and Robert Punkenhofer/ ART&IDEA (Idea/ Curatorial Development) develop an artificial island on the river Mur in the historic city center of Graz, the second largest town in Austria. The island opening date is scheduled for January 11th, 2003.

When Punkenhofer presented his idea and program for an artificial island to the city officials in Graz and Acconci Studio three years ago he envisioned the following: 'My aim was to break the prevailing isolation between the river and the city by establishing a multifunctional, futuristic platform that offers a new public space for communication, adventure and artistic creation. Housing an open-air theatre, a children playground and a café 'the island should take the city into the river and the river into the city'. A joyful, unifying piazza for the new millennium is created where people can meet and discuss, play and dance or simply daydream and relax on the water, in the water and under the water.

Acconci’s design of the island reminds of a utopian spaceship and immediately sets up an unexpected oasis that unites art and nature in provocative synthesis. The island bridges the UNESCO protected historic city center with the technology driven surrounding such as the proposed art center by Cook/ Fournier.

The form of the island relates to the organic shape of an egg or a clam-shell cut in half and shifted along the waterline. The three parts constituting the island seem to float on the platform just like the island itself on the water. There is no single isolated space, the open air theatre, the playground and the cafe covered by a glass dome are all intertwined and merge through a spiraling walkway that emphasizes the overall shape of the island including the two access ramps that connect the island with the riverbanks. 'If people sit in the theatre, they see the playground in the back, if they sit in the café, they are protected by the playground forming part of the café’s roof. These different functions should not be separated radically: around the island flows water, and we wanted the construct an object that is also flowing and changeable', explains the American artist turned architect.

The island is anchored and sits on the riverbed unless high water in spring makes it float. The challenging engineering work heavily relies on a unique system of steel frames and glass tiles. The intense use of glass stresses the lack of boundaries between the visitors and the water and creates the sensation of sitting in a bubble of air ready to drift away.

Vito Acconci, born in New York in 1940, is one of the most influential artists of our times. His first work in an art context, in the late 60’s and early 70’s, used performance, film and video as instruments of self-analysis and person to person relationships. In the mid-70’s, his audio and video installations turned exhibition spaces into community meeting places. In the early 80-‘s, participatory sculpture provided performative spaces for viewers, whose activity resulted in the construction and deconstruction of rooms, shelters, houses and buildings.

At the end of the 80’s, Acconci started his architecture firm, Acconci Studio, designing public places - streets and plazas, gardens and parks, building lobbies and transportation centers - as well as exhibition displays, furniture and vehicles. Acconci Studio designs both theoretical projects and buildable spaces. Recent theoretical projects include a portable home attached to the bones of the human body, and reclamations of garbage dumps and recycling plants in Tel Aviv and Breda.

Recently built public spaces are: an indoor park at the Philadelphia Airport, a plaza for the Midwest Convention Center in Milwaukee, a screened walkway to the Shibuya Station in Tokyo, a movable courtyard for the Buildings Department Administrative Building in Munich.

Acconci had numerous one-person exhibitions such as at the Kunstmuseum Luzern, the Stedelijk in Amsterdam, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna.

ART&IDEA is a not for profit institution devoted to promoting and facilitating a cross-cultural dialogue by organizing contemporary arts programs of international scope. Since its foundation as a nomadic project space with a permanent gallery in Mexico City by Robert Punkenhofer in 1995, ART&IDEA has presented more than 50 exhibitions and special projects in Mexico, New York, Madrid and Berlin. Past exhibitions featured the work of artists such as Maurizio Cattelan, Cheryl Donegan, Rainer Ganahl, Emiko Kasahara, Peter Land, Marko Lehanka, Teresa Margolles, Damian Ortega, Carolee Schneeman, Maria Serebriakova, Santiago Sierra, Joep Van Leishout and Bill Viola. A current edition program for the leading German weekly 'DIE ZEIT' presents new projects by Jenny Marketou and Do-Ho Suh.

Opening Reception: December 4th, 2002, 6 - 9 pm

Opening Hours: Monday through Saturday 10 am - 6 pm

For further information, please contact Robert Punkenhofer at punkenhofer@art-idea.com or phone +43-1-596 4364.
Visit also the related websites http://www.art-idea.com, http://www.acconci.com

space ART&IDEA, founded in 1995 as a not for profit institution, is devoted to promoting and facilitating a cultural dialogue by organizing contemporary arts programs of international scope.

space ART& IDEA
Morizgasse 8/12
A-1060 Vienna
Austria
Phone +43-1-596 43649
FAX +43-1-596 43649

Parque España 47
06140 México, D.F.
México
Phone: +52-55-2167 1844

Address: Austrian Cultural Forum 11 East 52nd Street
New York, NY space New York City

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