Beauty & aspiration
Admont Guests 2018
What does it mean when ecclesiastical institutions collect contemporary art? The Museum of Contemporary Art at Admont Abbey and the Minorite Cultural Centre as the home for contemporary art of the Diocese of Graz-Seckau have done so in recent years with their respective possibilities and quality standards. To mark the anniversary year of the Diocese of Graz-Seckau, this has resulted in an exhibition as part of the "Admont Guests" programme, combined with works from the collection of the current Bishop of Innsbruck, Hermann Glettler, which he donated to the diocese in 2015; works from the holdings of the QL Gallery are also included. The works are focussed on their religious content: in the context of the extensive Admont collections, they also provide information about the direction in which contemporary art has developed with regard to Christian imagery.
"How long does eternal life last?" asks Petra Sterry in large letters in the Natural History Museum. A pulsating heart is connected to a sound installation that tells the story of a company that has abolished dying. On the way there are gravestones by German artist Madeleine Dietz: they don't have names on them, but expressions: "Your eyes", "Your mouth", "Your kisses"... Relationship remains. In the end, it's the only thing. Not fame and honour, not power and money. Baroque sculptors like Josef Stammel in our library knew that. He is also represented in the exhibition in small format in the staging of Lois Renner - this artist was the first of the monastery's own series "Made for Admont", which began 18 years ago. The introduction to this exhibition is dedicated to the final questions. There is also the workplace of God as designed by Werner Reiterer - in his "Altar Design". But God seems to be gone, there is only a note that reads: "I'll be back in 5 minutes." Next to it is an old mobile phone. Are his time measurements of eternity perhaps different from our hours and minutes after all?
When Admont Abbey, founded in 1074, with its works of art, and the Minorite Cultural Centre in Graz (founded in 1975) join forces here to create an exhibition together with other items from the diocese's collection, it is a very special event: nowhere else in Europe is there such a concentration of contemporary art produced by the church as here in Styria.
Over 50 works from the various collections work their way through major themes such as "Gods of the Present", "Flight", "Mary", "Altars and Sacred Garments", "Cross", "Christ" and "Eternal Life".
More information about the exhibition:
Curated by Michael Braunsteiner and Johannes Rauchenberger
From the group 0512, Siegfried Anzinger, Willi Arndt, Guillaume Bruere, Christoph Cremer, Christian Eisenberger, Manfred Erjautz, Michael Endlicher, Madeleine Dietz, Dorothee Golz, Hermann Glettler, Stephan Hann, Fritz Hartlauer, Günther Holler-Schuster, Edgar Honetschläger, Karl Leitgeb, Zlatko Kopljar, Alfred Klinkan, Ronald Kodritsch, Alois Mosbacher, Clara Oppel, Adrian Paci, Markus Reiter, Werner Reiterer, Lois Renner, Claudia Schink, Hubert Schmalix, Christoph Schmidberger, Martin Schnur, Hans Staudacher, Petra Sterry, Gustav Troger, Markus Wilfling and Erwin Wurm.
