“Please! Save us from ourselves”: This is the motto under which the Kunstforum Salzkammergut is presenting its first major members’ show in the year of the Capital of Culture.
But hasn’t a collective that has been active since 1928 and is the second oldest art association in the state proven that it can always save itself thanks to this stability? Naturally! In this case, however, it was about an impulse that was aimed “at the state of the world,” which places ever more complex and profound demands on the community and each individual person, as Michael Wittig says. The Gmunden photographer is the new chairman of the forum.
“You can’t sell yourself”
Ironically, the big show also tells of a kind of rescue in its organization, perhaps even from its own routines: Since things became “for once difficult” in the year of Salzkammergut 2024, due to the busy cultural calendar in Gmunden as usual in the K-Hof there (Kammerhof- Museum) was requested for the first time in Laakirchen’s 96-year history.
Since Tuesday evening, the surprisingly diverse work of 27 forum members in all areas – from technology to media – has left its mark on the Steyrermühl-Laakirchen Paper Making Museum. Embedded in the former production building of the Steyrermühl paper factory, the path leads into the gallery rooms, which became almost too narrow during the vernissage, through the printing museum and the lithography workshop. The atmosphere? Like in a New York loft. The smell? Workshop meets machines.
The white walls and spacious concrete floors have become a stage for works of all kinds, whether massive or delicate, two- or three-dimensional. A sculpture by Ulrike Asamer becomes an attraction: the panther (large photo), made of wire. Cannulas, such as those used in medicine to introduce fluids into the human body, give it structure. Big cats like the panther captivate people with their suppleness and elegance, says the artist and anesthesiologist.
“Don’t be afraid of diversity”
But do they show their teeth – in keeping with the motto of self-rescue? “Of course the softness that they represent is to be preferred,” which for them symbolizes unity and community. “But you can’t sell yourself either.” The flat wall object “Pressure Equalization” by Markus Moser from Vorchdorf also reminds us of drawing boundaries in good time: contours made of welded iron wire form a man’s torso, his mouth is wide open. No wonder, there’s an umbrella in his head.
Relief can be found in a much more enjoyable way in the papermaking museum – for example in the delicate strokes with which Andrea Penz created the series “Dancers” (acrylic on paper). But not only painting, but also linocuts and drawings, materials from sheet metal, steel, wood, glass to tracing paper combine multifaceted positions to form a stimulating cross-section of the art forum, which “has never shied away from diversity,” as Rieke Reiter, chairwoman in 2009 until 2014, which OÖN provides. Perhaps the successful appearance in the new “Revier”, the initiation of which fits seamlessly into the Kunstforum’s annual motto “Plan B”, is the prelude to even more visual art in the papermaking museum.
This would be good for the colorful scene in the Salzkammergut, which does not have its own explicit house for art, even after 2024.
Info: “Please! Save us from ourselves”, until May 3rd, Papiermachermuseum, Museumsplatz 1, Laakirchen (Tuesday – Sunday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.), www. kunstforumsalzkammergut.com
Author
Nora Bruckmüller
Culture editor
Nora Bruckmüller
