Brigitte Kowanz
fountain
The artistic intervention by Brigitte Kowanz turns this object into a singular occurrence. Our world would, of course, be unbearable without the radical quality of just such occurrences. At the same time, the artist seems to have succeeded in invoking the memory of an eventful and significant piece of industrial history. And indeed, one reason why her newly created light sculpture gives rise to such gripping urgency is that there is no other place where it could be repeated in its existing form.
—pn
Permanent installation on site at Glanzstoff, St. Pölten, Austria
Commissioner: Cornelius Grupp
Art director: Peter Noever
Project management: Michaela Hartig, Alfred Plank,
studio Kowanz: Michaela Ruttmann
Curatorial Assistance: Adrian Kowanz
Catalog “Brigitte Kowanz. fountain” published by
VfmK Verlag für moderne Kunst – www.vfmk.org
ISBN 978-3-903153-78-3
Editor: Peter Noever
Texts by Michael Rotondi, Christoph Doswald,
Alexandra Matzner, Cornelius Grupp and Peter Noever
Light is what you see
For over a century, the smokestack of the
Glanzstoff Austria factory dominated the
St. Pölten cityscape. But in the wake of a
2008 fire, the production of viscose fiber
ceased here forever.
This former industrial site is now about
to be redefined, a process that will be festively initiated by Brigitte Kowanz with the
inaugural illumination of her light sculpture Fountain on 15 September 2017.
This sculpture was purchased at the
initiative of Cornelius Grupp and will now
stand permanently as a shining beacon for
the city: light is what we see.
Brigitte Kowanz is one of today’s most important Austrian artists, the professor and head of the Transmedia Art class at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, and the representative of the Republic of Austria of this year’s Art Biennale in Venice.
Press
“Fountain” by Brigitte Kowanz — article “Eine Stadt im Wandel”, News 14-2019, Vienna, Austria. Photography: Ricardo Herrgott