Strolling through the former salt refinery in Hallein on their open day, one had to pay close attention to not miss any of the works exhibited throughout the vast halls and corridors of the building. Whereas LucyMcKenzies decorative painting class exclusively used their workspace as the place to present their works, the class of Dierk Schmidt, operating under the title “painting as a narrative”, allowed some stray works to settle in other room of the saline.

Destiny Deacon let her photography students roam freely in the search for space, with works ending up in very unusual places. They even treated the surprised visitors to a performance, having organized a singer who then dressed in the traditional uniform of the salt miners and kneeled down in midst leftover salt to yodel at the gathered spectators. It was interesting to see the saline transformed into a bustling art space, full of visitors. Talking to the students beforehand, they all seemed very relaxed and satisfied with the outcome of the last couple of weeks, and more than just a bit blue that it was now over. But, there will always be next year. Maybe then we will be able to enjoy a longer concert in the courtyard where our valued technical chiefs, taking a break after the last setup rush, were strumming their electric guitars but soon found themselves surrounded by an audience they had not asked for. Thanks to all teachers, staff and students for an amazing 3 weeks at Hallein, and the wonderful outcome we could share this Friday.

The title of one Academy student’s work ­– „I sentieri misteriosi, die geheimnisvollen Wege, the mysterious trails“ – could stand for the collective outcome of all classes – Rebecca Morris An Introduction to Abstract Painting; Dan and Lia Perjovschi Expanded Drawing; Katrin Plavcak We need painters, we need poets...; Krystyna Piotrowska Print it again. Each class ­presents a multiplicity of stiles and techniques and it is a pleasure to walk through the final exhibition in the class rooms, feel the creative energies and see the results of three weeks working processes: You might stumble over a giant nose growing out of the wall or find yourself infront of delicately disrupted and newly interwoven canvas, you encounter interactive installations as well as colourful experimentations.

„Death of the Monument“ is not only the title of the exhibition from Marko Lulic at Galerie im Traklhaus which was opened yesterday evening. It is also the title of a huge sculpture which is situated in the courtyard, consisting of exactly these words in a typeface that reminds us of cowboy boots and western movies. Marko Lulic is a sculptor, his work deals mainly with two themes. First: what is a sculpture and more precisely what is a monument? And second what is modernism and how has it appeared in sculpture, city planning and architecture. When he researched about 10 years ago the modernist Yugoslavian monuments reminding of the partisans in World War second these two concerns merged. What he did was, he rebuilt these monuments as small models, as bricollages. These monuments as all monuments especially war memorials expressed how a society constitutes itself in constructing a specific view on ist own history. Another work in the exhibition is the video „Space Girl Dancer 2009“.  We see dancers re-enacting a choreography by Rachel Welsh within the sculpure garden of Erich Hauser in Rottweil / Germany, a garden with slightly old-fashioned modernistic sculptures. This choreography was originally shown in a TV special called „Rachel!“ 1970 done at a public space in Mexico as public art project for the olympic games in 1968.  The impression of the choreography was something between ethno, extra terrestrial and science fiction. Lulic transfers this modernistic combination of dance and sculpture to Germany,  invents new costumes and uses a newly composed music by Mario Neugebauer.  "It's interesting that the dancers as well as the video becomes a sculpture. The video is cut in a way that the sculptures start to dance as well." (opening words of Hildegund Amanshauser)

The large-scale photographs from Axel Hütte exposed in the present exhibiton represent reflections in standing waters , leading the viewer in uncertain terrains. The analogue photographs seem like digital manipulations. With Nikolaus Ruzicska and Tilmann Treusch the visitors had the possibility to further discuss the art works and to learn about how the gallery is run.

Upon request of the audience Hildegund Amanshauser continued her fascinating lecture on 60 Years of Art in 6 hours for another two and a half hours at Alte Saline Pernerinsel. The second part started with painting in Germany from Baselitz to Richter with an excursus to austrian artist Maria Lassnig who calls her work also body awareness painting. She often closed her eyes while painting with her body to express herself.  Coming up to austrian sculptor Franz West with his „Pass-Stücke“ which should be touched and carried by the audience Ms. Amanshauser stated, that many austrian artists where dealing with the body while german artists where dealing with history at that time.  Coming along with the gallery-boom in Europe and US in the 80ies the world had two major art-cities by then: Cologne and New York. A postcolonial discours started with beginning globalization after the breakdown of Berlin Wall and rouse the question: How can we (in the history of the colonisers) deal with art from other cultures like Afrika, Asia or subcultures.  It´s always a question of translation and understanding history. After some examples of video-art (Mathew Barney, Monica Bonvicini, Eija-Liisa Ahtila and Cameron Jamie) the lecture closed with aspects for 2000 where the interaction of science and art and artistic research became more and more evident.  But did it really end ? – As Ms. Amanshauser said everything will be continued and is in a process ... looking forward to Part 3.