In this exhibition, the artist Adolf Frohner shows his university side: his artistic network during his time as a teacher at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna (now the University of Applied Arts) is highlighted.
Legendary: Adolf Frohner's evening act class
From 1972 to 2005, Adolf Frohner held various positions at the Angewandte. First as associate professor for nude drawing, then as full professor, head of the master class for painting, dean and vice-rector.
He gathered his colleagues and students around him, especially during the time when Adolf Frohner led the legendary Abendakt. His Abendakt class was a center for exchange at the Angewandte. Together with Hannes Androsch, Bruno Kreisky's Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister, Adolf Frohner organized the exhibition series “Confrontations”. This enabled the students to make their first public appearances.
In the 1970s, the Angewandte was shaped by Oswald Oberhuber. As Rector and Professor of Commercial Art, he introduced new disciplines to teaching at the Angewandte with Peter Weibel, Peter Gorsen and Hans Hollein: The Chairs of New Media, Performance and Industrial Design were born. Oswald Oberhuber's era went down in art history with innovative new appointments. He also dared to attempt to bring international artists such as Joseph Beuys to the Angewandte.
Formative: from Hans Hollein to Maria Lassnig
Important personalities such as Hans Hollein, Maria Lassnig and her predecessors Wolfgang Hutter and Carl Unger formed Adolf Frohner's circle of colleagues. They had a strong influence on the following generations of artists.
Maria Lassnig was the first woman to take on a master class for painting and animated film, while Grete Rader-Soulek led the class for textile art. Together with the assistants Helga Phillipp, Martha Jungwirth and Reimo Wukounig, they were decisive for teaching practice at the Angewandte.
How do these university influences make themselves felt in the show? The exhibition establishes a dialog between Frohner's realism, Oberhuber's postmodern border crossings and Phillipp's concrete painting. And with Hollein's visual work, it shows a generation that was able to consistently rethink thought.
Artists: Wander Bertoni, Adolf Frohner, Hans Hollein, Wolfgang Hutter, Martha Jungwirth, Josip (Josef) Kaiser, Maria Lassnig, Oswald Oberhuber, Helga Philipp, Grete Rader-Soulek, Peter Weibel
Documentation: Eva Choung-Fux, Thomas Römer, Edda Seidl-Reiter
Curators: Elisabeth Voggeneder, Brigitte Borchhardt-Birbaumer