Organised by BIG ART (www.big-art.at)

Ricky Renier, freelance curator, leads a tour of the Kunst am Bau projects “MYX” by Gelatin (BRG/BORG Lessinggasse), “Der Muse reicht’s” by Iris Andraschek (University of Vienna Arcade Courtyard) and “Vivarium St. Marx” by Mark Dion (University of Vienna Biology Center).

“MYX” by Gelatin is a three-dimensional, colorful sculpture that provides students with a mascot. As a kind of identity-forming superbeing, it is meant to accompany the young people and cope with everyday school life with them. It also stands for the courage to think and create something extraordinary – beyond the “norm” – and allows a playful approach to mythology, literature and deductive thinking. The title MYX derives from the word “myxa” (Greek for “mucus”), alluding to the study of body fluids in which the ancient world located humor.

The fact that university policies for years “forgot” to honor female scientists was the starting point for Iris Andraschek’s project “Der Muse reicht’s” (Enough for the Muse) for the arcade courtyard of the University of Vienna. Her silhouette of a struggling female figure on the ground is representative of all the women scientists who have been passed over the centuries and, in contrast to their male colleagues, have not been officially honored.

Mark Dion has designed a “vivarium” for the foyer of the Biology Center. A tree trunk removed from the site’s ecosystem rests in a kind of greenhouse, transferred to the university research field. It thus creates a link between inside and outside, the past of the urban environment and the present of the scientific institution, and serves as an identification mark of the building as a modern biology research center.

The tour takes place as a bus tour.