Mexico City, January 4 – 13, 1995
Artists: Uli Aigner, Martin Osterider, Gerhard Paul, Gerold Wucherer
In the exhibition Tope del Arte, four Austrian artists comment upon the art system as it operates within its own institutional context and which presents itself as highly conditioned to the examination of the specific work of art. The installation of a show in a private house rather than in the notorious white cube of a gallery or museum questions the validity of usually clean and isolated presentations and at the same time illustrates how a generally shut-off collector’s home can turn public. Uli Aigner used the wardrobe of the owners to create an installation, thus taking away their last material “protection shield”. A mural by Gerhard Paul expands throughout the living room. Martin Osterider investigated the furniture, in order to categorize and catalogue it for the stock of a virtual museum. Gerold Wucherer changed the illumination and the entrance of the house and made the windows disappear. Thus, the artists minimised the influence of the home owners on how and where to install which kind of works.
