​Public Matters

Art—a public matter? In a large outdoor sculpture project, the Belvedere is placing contemporary art in the spotlight of its 2023 anniversary. 

Ever since their opening to the general public in the 1780s, the Belvedere Gardens have been used extensively as places for recreation and communality. The fact that they are clearly also places for art is highlighted by Public Matters. Works by thirty-three local and international contemporary artists connect all the museum’s gardens—from the main courtyard of the Lower Belvedere and the Privy Garden to the grand Baroque gardens of the Upper Belvedere and the modernist sculpture garden of the Belvedere 21—and help us to see these spaces as an ensemble that has evolved over time. 

Both site-specifically developed and already existing artworks reflect the full scope of what sculpture can be today: performative, installative, process- and time-based works are displayed alongside traditional forms of sculpture, underlining the expanded concept of sculpture to which the exhibition refers. Moreover, integrating these different artistic approaches in the historical setting of the Belvedere Gardens opens up fresh, critical perspectives on public forms of representing power and prestige through the ages. This is conveyed particularly vividly by the allusions of individual works to the historical structural and functional elements in the gardens. Art—as the various works lucidly demonstrate—always reflects the social conditions of its time.

Participation and individual ways of experiencing art are central to the project. These aspects are further enhanced by free admission to the grounds: Visitors can decide themselves when, how often, in which ways, and how extensively they engage with the works on display.

Alongside well-known artists such as Louise Bourgeois, VALIE EXPORT, Dan Graham, Thomas Houseago, Brigitte Kowanz, Hans Op de Beeck, Kara Walker, Lois Weinberger, Lawrence Weiner, Franz West, and Fritz Wotruba, the exhibition presents new site-specific works by Verena Dengler, Thomas Geiger, Iman Issa, Kapwani Kiwanga, Goshka Macuga, Toni Schmale, and Kateřina Šedá. The selection is completed by key examples from the collection and existing works by Thomas Baumann, Renate Bertlmann, Carola Dertnig, Fria Elfen & Wil Frenken, Roland Goeschl, Alfred Hrdlicka, Anna Jermolaewa & Manfred Grübl, Hans Kupelwieser, Marko Lulić, Ingeborg G. Pluhar, Maruša Sagadin, Socratis Socratous, and Heimo Zobernig.

This project is accompanied by a comprehensive publication featuring essays and texts about the exhibited works.

Curators: Christiane Erharter, Georg Lechner, Sergey Harutoonian, Axel Köhne, Claudia Slanar, Luisa Ziaja / Assistant curators: Miroslav Haľák, Andrea Kopranovic

Press contact: Irene Jäger / presse@belvedere.at / T +43 1 79 557-185

View press materials here.