Heribert Friedl – Artistic Intervention 2023

Heribert Friedl

Artistic intervention
at the Kunsthistorisches Museum

Heribert Friedl, 2023 season: open from 1 April to 1 November

Since 2003, the Museum of Art History A space for artistic intervention has been integrated. It is a space of resonant relationships and dialogue: between the sacred and the profane, the past and the present. Transformations and processes. In 2022, this space was designed by Heribert Friedl! His installation will be on display during the 2023 season, from April to November.

The artists invited so far have never ceased to surprise us – with their incredibly multi-layered and complex artistic approaches. In doing so, they drew inspiration from Admont Abbey as a place of intellectual endeavour and a home to such diverse collections; from the library, the archives and its cultural memory stretching back almost 950 years. In 2022, this space was designed by Heribert Friedl. The installation consists of items of clothing, neatly arranged in the form of an archive, which were worn by a very specific, beloved person. At first, one might therefore be taken aback to encounter something so mundane in the context of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. What on earth is this all about?!

Fragrances as carriers

A brief look back at Friedl’s artistic development, however, provides a key to understanding. Fragrances and their effects have long been the focus of Heribert Friedl’s interests. Much of his work consists of site-specific installations or ephemeral architectures that explore the concept of „nonvisualobjects“ (a term he has used to describe his work since 1996). In these, fragrances act as carriers of content. Friedl also explored this approach in earlier years at Admont Abbey.

In 2007, during the multi-year restoration of the Admont Abbey Library, he coated a white backing board on the scaffolding with an invisible fragrance. Rubbing the board actively released the scent of incense. As in many of his installations, Heribert Friedl was not concerned with the visual aspect. The work also included scent cards relating to the Baroque abbey library. A piece of the original was also taken away with the card. As part of an exhibition on the theme of „Library“ in 2008, Heribert Friedl created a „fragrance library’ comprising 100 scents at the Museum of Contemporary Art – an archive of scents, if you will. In 2012, he created a piece for the Admont Special Collection ‘Beyond sight - art connects blind and sighted people" has created a work: A visible scent spiral made of perforated copper tubing, from which a bellows emit an odour that spreads through the room as an invisible ephemeral sculpture.

Heribert Friedl 2023: what remains of a person

In Heribert Friedl’s art, which focuses on olfactory perception, visual elements are omitted as far as possible. Thus, the current installation is not about the mere perception of the clothing itself. Rather, it is about the person who once wore it. This refers to a loved one who, following their passing, is no longer physically amongst us. It is about what remains of this person. The focus is on absence and memories – triggered, amongst other things, by scents – which have become imprinted on these garments. It is about what we individually „project“ onto objects, onto works of art – each of us differently, depending on the circumstances. It is also about the invisible microparticles that have become part of them. They are invisible to the human eye, but for forensic scientists they represent a cosmos par excellence.

It’s about love, coming to terms with grief, letting go, „Vanitas“ and „Memento Mori“. Ultimately, it is about comfort, about hope, about the fact that just because you cannot see something, it does not mean it does not exist. And about the fact that what is visible often obscures what is truly important – what is actually worth perceiving.

Heribert Friedl also speaks of the scent of time, which has found its expression in these objects. And against the backdrop of his engagement with the Korean-German philosopher, cultural scholar and author Byung-Chul Han, he argues that the history which grows into objects through long-term use imbues them with a life of their own, transforming them into „things of the heart“. It is not only the immediate visual impression, which may reflect a certain era, but also the invisible aspect of objects – the quality one can sense – that creates a „cosmos of cherished objects“.

The context of Heribert Friedl’s installation in relation to the Museum of Art History, whereas the context in which it will be on display in 2023 is more on the structural side. The museum as an archive, as a „saviour from oblivion“. Of course, parallels can also be drawn with the vestments.

"You can only see well with your heart.
The essentials are invisible
for the eyes."

(Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)