The Visual Arts Platform is hosted by the Austrian Cultural Forum London and presents emerging artists from, or working in Austria, through exhibitions, residencies and artist's talks. Curated by Eva Martischnig and Adriana Marques, who are based in Graz and London, this programme explores local, regional and global contexts of contemporary art by generating new links between Austria and the UK.
Independent curator, author, and lecturer Sabine Breitwieser has been appointed Chief Curator of the Department of Media and Performance Art at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Ms. Breitwieser, who from 1988 to 2007 served as founding Director and Curator of the Generali Foundation, a public contemporary art museum in Vienna, will begin her new position at MoMA on October 4.
Under the title, “People meet in architecture” the 12th Venice Architecture Biennale will take place from 29th August to 21st November 2010. Among the 43 international architects, engineers and artists, invited by the Biennale’s new Director, Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima, feature Austrian architects Franziska Ullmann and Peter Ebner.
The Styrian Provincial Government is offering foreign scholarships to young free-lance artists in all fields from European and non-European countries for the year 2011. These scholarships will be awarded upon proposal by a jury. The deadline is May 31, 2010. More information is provided on www.kulturservice.steiermark.at
Minister of Culture Claudia Schmied appointed Eva Schlegel as curator of Austria's contribution to the 54th Venice Biennale 2011.
On 22 March 2010 German art historian Karola Kraus was appointed as new director of the Museum of Modern Art (MUMOK) in Vienna. Incumbent Director Edelbert Köb will resign on 1 October 2010.
Bruno Gironcoli was one of Austria's most important sculptors of recent times, best known as the creator of monumental, organic shapes and huge distorted replicas of domestic objects, covered in silver or gold paint. He died in Vienna on 19 February 2010 at the age of 74. Read the full obituary in the Independent by Marcus Williamson here.