Studio Visits at the Künstlerhaus

On Wednesday evening the series of local studio visits took us to the Salzburg Künstlerhaus, home of the Salzburger Kunstverein. The Künstlerhaus is one of the main centres of creative production and interaction in the Salzburg region. In association with other cultural centres, the Kunstverein provides studio space for local artists, hosts events and exhibitions, and serves as a network for artists, patrons and all those interested in the art of Salzburg.

The first studio was that shared by Peter Brauneis and Martina Mühlfellner. They allowed us to examine some of their work in progress, and explained the importance of such a working space. For them, the studio is essential not only for the practical issues of working with larger objects and storage, but also as a place to think. Bauneis admitted that he finds the space allows him to contemplate, and even find inspiration. The question of mixing with the other artists was not so important, and that for them at least, the Künstlerhaus does not really work as a meeting place for artists, in part because studio time is simply too precious - many artists have other jobs, and wish to spend the time they have at their studios working.

We then visited Fritz Rücker’s studio. Here we saw some of the practical difficulties with acquiring studio space: he shares his studio with other artists, and confessed that the impressive drum kit in the corner was not his. As they work in very different fields, collaboration is difficult, although Rücker admitted he has become more interested in collaborative projects recently. He also shared some of his recent work with us, which involved transforming media. His montage “Doors” combined footage from numerous films creating a progression of connected images, while other projects involved detailed images drawn from vast private photographic archives.