A jury of experts selected three winning projects from Atelier Ehrmann:Gruber, Viktoria Morgenstern and Fabian Puttinger and Michael Reindel for the Art in Architecture Competition. The competition is a cooperation between BUWOG and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
Together with BUWOG, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna has announced the winners of the Art in Architecture Competition: Atelier Ehrmann:Gruber, Viktoria Morgenstern as well as Fabian Puttinger and Michael Reindel succeeded in persuading the jury of experts with their projects. They will be implemented at as many as ten BUWOG locations over the next ten years. The competition was aimed at graduates of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna who completed their studies no more than five years ago in order to give them a particularly lasting presence in busy locations in Austria and abroad. The competition is also endowed with prize money in the amount of EUR 5,000.
“After many exciting months in which we had the chance to behold a large number of really great works by young artists, we are extremely delighted to announce the three winning projects,” says Andreas Holler, BUWOG’s managing director responsible for project development. “As an integrative element, art in all its facets generates added value that creates a distinctive identity, connects people, lends residential projects their individual character and makes our corporate philosophy visible. We are very proud to actively play a role in shaping public space with outstanding architects, art in architecture projects and artistic interventions (or installations), thereby lending character to urban environments. Thus, we are already quite excited to see how our winners’ projects will create spaces that encourage people to experience, reflect on and engage in dialogue about art at future BUWOG locations, uniquely enriching our residential projects and enhancing the quality of liveability there.”
“As an art university, our aim is to support aspiring graduates and raise awareness of the cultural significance of art,” says Ingeborg Erhart, vice rector for art and teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, pointing to the reasons behind the competition. “With this important initiative, we are delighted to give artists the opportunity to create spaces for reflection and inspiration and to interact with people who may have little contact with art in their everyday lives. The winners thus make a lasting, valuable contribution to a vibrant urban and cultural landscape.”
The “Geoid Neighbourhoods” project by Christina Ehrmann and Christopher Gruber impressed the jury as an extraordinary connection between interior and exterior spaces, inspired by Alexander von Humboldt’s research and his “Measuring the World”. The design is impressive because of its flexibility and invites beholders to reflect on the world and their own position in it. Viktoria Morgenstern’s project “Beyond the Laurel” is a playful yet accessible approach to the relationship between human beings and nature. Inspired by the shapes of diverse types of laurel, the project conveys a sense of openness and harmony. The participatory character expressly desired by the artist in the implementation allows for great flexibility in the realisation, which the jury acknowledged as a contemporary approach. The submission “Swap Station” by Fabian Puttinger and Michael Reindel impressed the jury with its remarkable approach to materials, ecology and sustainable construction, particularly due to the use of clay and excavated materials. As a zone of reflection in the midst of a transit space, “Swap Station” promotes the idea of sustainability by allowing things that are no longer needed to be handed in and utilised by others.
The winners were selected by a jury of experts consisting of Alfredo Barsuglia (artist), Ingeborg Erhart (vice rector of art and teaching, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna), Ingrid Fitzek-Unterberger (director of marketing and communication, BUWOG), Alexandra Grausam (curator, BUWOG), Michael Herbek (director of project development, BUWOG), Lisa Ortner-Kreil (curator Kunstforum Wien) and Eva Sommeregger (Institute for Art and Architecture, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna).
