29.05.2019; Austrian Sculpture Park, Premstätten.
Artist in Residence 2019: Jun Yang. The Emperor’s Ice.
Every year the Austrian Sculpture Park invites national and international artists as well as classes of art students to enter into a dialogue with the special circumstances in the Sculpture Park, and to develop works either jointly or alongside one another. Jun Yang was awarded the Artist in Residence prize at the Austrian Sculpture Park for 2019. Starting from the myth that Marco Polo brought back to Europe from his trips to China knowledge about how to make ice and preserve it in summer, the artist reconstructs this traditional method. An ice block was already buried in the Austrian Sculpture Park in November 2018, which will be dug up again at the Spring Celebration on May 19th, 2019. Can the method from ancient China still work today?
Jun Yang. The Emperor’s Ice, 2018/2019
From 14th February 2019, the Kunsthaus Graz will also be showing a large personal exhibition by Jun Yang. “This extraordinary art project is so interesting because neither we nor the artist Jun Yang know the result. We are eagerly awaiting the result in May 2019”, says the director of the Austrian Sculpture Park Elisabeth Fiedler.
The ice block is located in a wooden box and was sunk into a 1.3m³ large covered earth hole. The space between the formwork and the ground was filled with bad heat conductors such as ash and straw and covered with a 1. 7m² metal plate, which gives an indication of the project. Through this exciting experiment, the artist thematizes scientific findings and their implementation in real life and historical construction. A striking sculpture is a visible sign of the complex conceptual work. In addition to Chinese food, there should also be planed ice at the festival, which is based on the original Chinese “Baobing” or Japanese “Kakigori” and served with red beans, mango fruits or Matcha.
Spring Celebration 2019
29.05.2019 | 14.-17.00 h
www.museum-joanneum.at/spring-celebration
Jun Yang. The Emperor’s Ice, 2018/2019
19.05. – 31.10.2019
www.museum-joanneum.at/jun-yang
Late Summer Celebration
08.09.2019 | 14.-17.00 h
www.museum-joanneum.at/late-summer-celebration
Austrian Sculpture Park
01.04. – 31.10.2019 | 10 – 20.00 h
Thalerhofstraße 85
8141 Premstätten
24.03. – 31.10.2018
www.skulpturenpark.at
