Rachel Whiteread

Rachel Whiteread is recognised internationally as one of the leading artists of her generation. Born 1963 in London, she was the first woman to win the prestigious Turner Prize in 1993 and went on to represent the UK at the 1997 Venice Biennale. In Vienna, she is best known for her Holocaust Memorial on the Judenplatz. With this monument, the British artist has had a lasting effect on the city and changed the discourse about the past. For her casts of empty spaces that range in scale from the monumental to the intimate Whiteread uses industrial materials such as plaster, concrete, resin, rubber, metal, and paper. Despite their minimalist language and severity, her sculptures have a poetic quality and evoke personal and universal human experiences and memories.

This comprehensive retrospective of Rachel Whiteread’s oeuvre in the main exhibition space of the Belvedere 21 is the first opportunity for the Austrian public to be introduced to major works from the various periods of the artist’s career. Featuring some seventy exhibits, the show ranges from her early casts of hot water bottles, furniture and architectural elements to her latest reliefs made from papier mâché. Milestones in Whiteread’s career such as Closet and Mantle (both 1988) as well as Untitled (Twenty-five spaces) from 1995 will be on display. A special emphasis of the exhibition is focused on Whiteread’s memorial for the Austrian Jewish victims of the Holocaust, first unveiled in 2000 at the Judenplatz in Vienna. Untitled (Room 101) is another centrepiece of the exhibition. It is a cast of the room 101 in the BBC’s former Broadcasting House, which is believed to be the model for George Orwell’s "Room 101," the torture chamber in his dystopian novel 1984, a warning about totalitarianism and the loss of humanity that is extremely topical today.

The exhibition was organised by the Tate Britain, London, together with the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., in cooperation with the Belvedere 21, Vienna, and the Saint Louis Art Museum.

Supported by the British Council Austria.

Curated by Harald Krejci.

#Whiteread21

Exhibition catalogue
Rachel Whiteread
Editors: Ann Gallagher, Molly Donovan
Authors: M. Donovan, B. Fer, B. Dillon, A. Gallagher, H. Krejci, L. Young, L. Zelevansky
Graphic design: Sara De Bondt with the assistance of Sam Baldwin
Number of pages: 240 pages, 21.9 × 29 cm, paperback, approx. 150 illustrations
German edition (Hirmer Verlag): ISBN 978-3-7774-3009-6
English edition (Tate Publishing): ISBN 978-1-84976-464-3

Press contact
Irene Jäger
T +43 (0) 1 79 557-185 / presse21@belvedere.at