PROGRAM
Galerie Stadtpark is a non-commercial exhibition platform for the presention, contextualization, and dissemination of contemporary positions in the field of visual art. Centering on three thematic axes, the Galerie Stadtpark program can be distilled into the following concepts: the construction of reality; abstraction; and the dispositif of the gaze. The elaboration of the second and third areas of thematic focus—the dispositif of the gaze and abstraction—has led to the emergence of a distinct focal point, best articulated as a questioning of the ontological status of what is perceived. This area of interest unites post-minimalist approaches with aspects related to the theory of the gaze. The reflection on form, perception/gaze, and spatial conditions (dispositif) has more recently evolved into questions concerning the nature of being: the “being” of the object of perception, and, ultimately, the being of perceivers themselves.

Over the past several years, the curatorial direction of the program has also increasingly focused on the presentation of individual artistic positions. Highlighted here—rather than an emphasis on themes and context, representation and media critique, the conditions of the gaze and format, or the production of meaning in art—is the individual aesthetic practice. The outcome is a form of artistic representation that can be unequivocally understood and interpreted as a distinct viewpoint, as its own “way of worldmaking” (Nelson Goodman). Each artistic position exemplifies a form of autonomy and freedom in action; it symbolizes an idea of aesthetic practice that cannot be reduced to a single work.


The Building as Dispositif and Place

Galerie Stadtpark represents a unique venue within the Austrian exhibition landscape, both architecturally and institutionally. It cannot be reduced the function of a gallery—either aesthetically or commercially—but constitutes an architecturally striking, discourse-reflective exhibition dispositif. The free-standing exhibition building, erected in 1960 by the Kunstverein and located in the city park, can be characterized as a modernist pavilion whose transparent means of construction lend a distinctly site-specific quality to the perception and experience of the exhibitions presented. The special relationship between inside and outside, the visual impact of the exterior space, which is also conveyed in terms of lighting, allows the act of perception to be experienced in a more conscious and tangible way. Here art does not take place in a free-floating, timeless, and placeless white cube, it demands and develops its very own here and now.
 
David Komary, curator


Logos Fördergeber Galerie Stadtpark - Kultur NÖ; Bundesministerium Kunst, Kultur, Öffentlicher Dienst und Sport; Lower Austria Contemporary