There is always an element of transience to the art projects organised by
KÖR Wien (Public Art Vienna) on Vienna’s Graben,
as they occupy the public space only until the onset of winter each year.
This year, however, the ephemeral has merged in a very immediate way with the work A Chicken Can’t Lay a Duck Egg by the Austrian artist Claudia Märzendorfer: drawing on motifs of transience from classical still lifes, part of her monumental yet fragile sculpture will dissolve before the eyes of the opening guests.

Commissioned by KÖR Wien,
this work juxtaposes the motif of the Baroque vanitas still life – with its cautionary references to excess and waste – with those remnants of civilisation that burden our ecosystem and outlive a single human lifetime.

With her choice of title,
Claudia Märzendorfer has transformed the quiet work into a powerful statement:

A Chicken Can’t Lay a Duck Egg refers to the title of a book
(Graeme Maxton and Bernice Maxton-Lee, 2020), that outlines the far-reaching changes needed to tackle the climate crisis.