groupshow with:

Marco A. Castillo, Miho Dohi,
Manuel Gorkiewicz, Katharina Grosse,
Sonia Leimer, Isa Melsheimer,
Manfred Pernice, Karin Sander,
Michael E. Smith, Jessica Stockholder

In the exhibition titled gewendet • angewendet • angewandt  (changed • used • applied), Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder is showing ten artists who straddle the line between applied arts, design, crafts, and fine arts in its gallery at Domgasse 6. The productive connection between applied and fine arts — in other words, between objects, the functionality of which in their daily use demands a rational and logical design process, and objects that fulfill a need for a purely aesthetic approach to creating artworks that do not have a “function” in themselves — has a long tradition in Vienna. Following the idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk (a total work of art), the artists of the Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop) wanted to introduce art to all areas of daily life, with the goal of making this city the center of good taste within the culture of applied arts. Everyday objects, furniture, fashion, lamps, and even jewelry, as well as graphic designs for books or posters were designed with the highest possible technical workmanship and the desire for independence and beauty in mind. This development began with the creation of progressive working conditions for craftspeople and culminated in replacing the overabundant French and Belgian Art Nouveau ornaments with a geometric, abstract language of forms that was extraordinarily long-lasting and still displays a timeless elegance today.