Vienna for Art’s Sake!

After Looking Eastward (Russia), Snapshot Romania (Romania), and Iceland/Boiling Ice (Iceland), “Vienna for Art’s Sake!” is the fourth European collection of Imago Mundi, the “Global Archives of Art”, by which Luciano Benetton has redefined art collecting. Benetton’s Imago Mundi rests on a philanthropic approach and aims to display the maximum number of artistic positions and artists in the widest and most representative contexts possible.

The Vienna exhibition is the first to be presented on such a large scale and seeks to demonstrate the relevant artistic positions behind the miniature format of 10 by 12 cm. The 161 works of the Archive Austria will be presented in the Primary Exhibition at the Sala terrena of the Winter Palace. Moreover, thirteen impressive artistic interventions will respond to its Baroque rooms. The interventions have been specially planned and developed for this location; they are meant to demonstrate the significance of contemporary artistic production from a new perspective and visualise the unbroken force of thinkers and visionaries. The works by Magdalena Jetelová, Iv Toshain, Eva Schlegel, Manfred Wakolbinger, Hans Kupelwieser, the next ENTERprise, Joep van Lieshout, Koen Vanmechelen, Hermann Nitsch, Kiki Smith, and others will be on view at the Winter Palace in Vienna’s Himmelpfortgasse.