Practicing the Ways of Seeing

After checking in with a few classes in the morning and collecting my thoughts, I joined, or rather - was allowed to join, the writing class of Kimberly Bradley and her co-teacher Andrea Kopranovic in a very artsy tour of the town. Both educational and amusing, the walk was a live exercise during which each of the participants tried to find new ways of seeing art.

After descending the Fortress, we stopped by the Kunstverein where I quite enjoyed the Geoffrey Farmer & Gareth Moore's long-titled installation. We moved through the touristy streets, going on to Art Salzburg - a very small, high-end art fair. Checking out a display of 20th-century art, ranging from Schiele to Beuys, I enjoyed a garden sculpture by Otto Boll the most, an elegant line in space, and not on offer. Further, our group was welcomed by the gallerist at the Galerie Trapp, where we looked at exhibitions by two contemporary and very different artists, Hubert Schmalix and Alfredo Barsuglia.

Our last stop was the famous Thaddaeus Ropac gallery, conveniently set right next to the Mirabell garden. Without going too much into what we’ve seen inside of the space, I have to admit that I was far more fascinated with the opulence of the villa and the business itself. Finally, a welcome break came, while a few of us decided to climb up to the Museum der Moderne for the talk of Paulina Olowska.

There are no free rides with the writers, so me joining the walks depended on me taking on responsibilities instead of just reaping the benefits of a curated walk. And - I ended up with homework! Every one of the students is required to write a description of any artwork we’ve seen today, BUT without reading any meaning into it. Hearing that about 200 words are required, I agreed without thinking, but when I learned about the nature of the task - it was too late! Writing about visual aspects only is hard and I’m really nervous about it. I hope I get a passing grade!

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I should be joining Distruktur in another filming exercise tomorrow and in the evening - a second Periscope exhibition is coming up!

Until then, I’ll be doin’ homework.

Ana