Vienna. Street Art Gets Philosophical

As street art rises higher and higher into the echelons of fine art, more museums and institutions are viewing it as a vital part of their contemporary collections. Street art exhibitions still have a huge draw, and with this year’s release of Banksy’s intriguing “Exit Through the Gift Shop” the validity of “real” street art was put under the microscope.

If you travel with knowing eyes, you’re bound to spot some of renowned street artists’ work in any major city, but in Vienna, you can cut straight to the chase.  In 2008 one of the intrinsic characters of Banksy’s film, a French street artist known as Invader, created a permanent, site specific installation on the bridge from the Spittelberg to the Museum Quartier in Vienna.  This was the first step in the development of Beton Blumen (concrete art) in Vienna’s street art scene.

A rotating program of international street artists, which in the past included the likes of Dome, Fefe Talavera, and Ripo, are invited to participate in the project. Multimedia American artist Brad Downey is the latest artist to be showing in the Beton Blumen passage.  Downey teamed up with Phillipp Teuchtler, a well-known Viennese street art collector, to explore the sense of ownership in anonymous street works.  The majority of Teuchtler’s collection is unsigned, taken from the street and without commercial value.  However, the question must be raised – does Teuchtler really hold ownership over these pieces? By collecting them as items of worth he negates their purpose, turning works of public display into a collection for personal pleasure.

Downey accessed Teuchtler’s collection, and together they chose 12 anonymous works.  The artist then signed the works, giving a formerly valueless item monetary worth as well as re -appropriating the original intention of the artwork.  The concept will strike some as surprisingly heady for what many view as defacement, plain and simple, but then again, the debate is part of the beauty of art forms on the rise.

Vienna’s Museum Quarter, and the Beton Blumen Street Art Passage are less than 10 minutes via public transit from White Line member hotel Hollmann Beletage.  Hollmann Beletage has a hint of the avant-garde and the sense of humour to go with it.

You can form your own opinion on Downey’s work through the end of September; we’d love to hear what you think (leave us a comment).  Pick up a copy of the Downey designed Beton Blumen magazine from any number of museum shops, and, if you’re up for purchasing some of the work, check out their auction, held just once a year. www.betonblumen.org

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Categories: Vienna, Art, Culture, Events

Contributing writer: Alicia Reuter