With both legs firmly in the sky. The studio series of Neue-Galerie Graz presents artists with a future.
Graz is a good base for young art. In relation to the city’s size there are many renowned art institutions providing young artists and their works with a showcase within their programmatic contexts. There is also a joint platform called “Aktuelle Kunst in Graz”, formed by institutions like the Esc Medien Kunst Labor, Kunstverein rotor, Forum Stadtpark, Künstlerhaus, KULTUM and Grazbased Kunstverein. Together they present positions of contemporary art and organise joint gallery days. These take place each year in May and there’s always a tightly packed programme.
The “Studioreihe“ (Studio Series) of Neue Galerie Graz takes on a very special position in this field:
The series started out in a restaurant at Neue Galerie’s previous location in Sackstraße Graz. When Neue Galerie moved to new Joanneum Quarter, they couldn’t find a suitals able place for continuing this programme for a few years. Two years ago the series found its permanent location in the foyer of Joanneumsviertel’s main entrance, which can be visited free of charge. Curators Günther Holler-Schuster and Roman Grabner manage the studio exhibitions together.
Günther Holler-Schuster thinks that the artists truly benefit from the many different spaces available for young art in Graz. “Young art is very visible nowadays. And in Graz there are a lot of options. Artists’ names can become wellknown in a short period of time.” This is partly because of the city’s art associations and institutions, but also because of the numerous residency programmes and the young artists’ good international networks. The architecture of the Studio Series’ new room also shapes the programme. “There’s no direct daylight,” says Günther Holler-Schuster. “Therefore, it makes sense that we use this room mostly for presenting different forms of media art.”
The two curators use this framework to present works for which the respective artists aren’t known yet. Renate Krammer, for instance, mainly works with acryl and graphite. In the Studio Series one of her video works will be presented for the first time. Günther Holler-Schuster also wants to be able to react quickly and spontaneously to day-to-day developments in this series. This is not an easy undertaking in the complex administrative structures of the large institution “Universalmuseum Joanneum”, as the curator remarks. But one has to take some risks: When artists have been asked to contribute to an exhibition, it can happen that they don’t know if the works will really exist up to a few days before the opening. Günther Holler-Schuster also has future visions for this series: He wants to have younger curators. “Art should be presented by the generation which produced it,” he states.
Neue Galerie Graz
studio-Exhibitions 2019
Renate Krammer
slow motion
27.04.-16.06.2019
studio 2
19.07.-01.09.2019
studio 3
13.09.-27.10.2019
Joanneumsviertel
8010 Graz
www.museum-joanneum.at
