"I look at depictions of all kinds, study the gestures and then put them in a contemporary context to see what they might mean." explains artist Judy Fox, currently teaching the figure-modelling class at the Fortess Hohensalzburg, as she shows her older work at the lunch talk this Thursday. This resulted in a life-sized version of the Venus of Willendorf, or in a series of children modelled on holy statues from all around the world. It's also important to her to stay true to ethnicity. When, for example, she works from an old african protection charm, the statue displaying the gestures will look african, and so on. "It's interesting how much the gods of a region, even if they're from civilisations that ceased to exist long ago, look like the people living there today." Showing some of these clay figures on display, she adds how she likes to make the viewer feel a bit guilty for looking instead of putting a blanket over her very alive-looking works.

She also presents some of her recent work, which is a lot less humanoid, weird creatures that look like the creepy-crawly population of a garden after it's been hit by an atomic blast. "It's about this childhood feeling of something that grosses you out but fascinates you at the same time, like bugs and spiders do." seeing the faces of some of the audience as they look at the images, she's doing an almost too good of a job in conveying it. We even got a peek into her studio and the exhibition she is currently preparing for, featuring all kinds of sea creatures like fish and octopodes, but also the fabled mermaid.

When it gets to questions from the audience, the topic of problems because of her children statues - Judy Fox lives and works in the US - comes up fairly quickly, to the amusement of the artist who just laughs and explains how "I started doing these kinds of statues in 1981, it was not a problem then, and when it could have become one I just played dumb and kept on doing what I was doing. " She adds that she doesn't notice body parts and such anyway, for her it's simply about the form, of constructing and following it, of interpreting it. Being a woman helps, too, I'd think. It was a bit disappointing that the audience was more concentrated on implications than on one simple question, how these intricate, huge pieces are actually made, but Judy Fox will be here for another two weeks so there's always the chance to just ask. [mp]

On an evening that finally displayed the sunny weather we had all been longing for, participants of the Summer academy, its supporters but also people from the village of artist Hubert Maier, much to his delight, gathered at the Kunstraum Pro Arte in Hallein for the opening of his exhibition there.

The obligatory opening speech at events like these can often be very dry or downright boring, with some poor nervous person reading off a piece of paper or trotting out a speech they has painfully memorised beforehand. So it was a huge delight for the whole audience to listen to the galleries secretary Peter Husky speak completely freely and heartwarmingly about the artist and his work, presenting the both of them with much wit and elegance. After this intriguing opening speech, the artist himself stepped up to explain his works a bit, their context and meaning and why he had chosen to display a mix of both old and new works so he would be asked less questions later on, he remarked, employing fully his bavarian charm which was in turn rewarded by the audience with gales of laughter.

"The best way to view this exhibition is actually to be alone with the stone, to feel it pulling at the rooms gravity and the room pushing back." he explains, a feat that was not possible this Wednesday. The exhibition will be accessible until the 3rd of September, though, so there's always the chance to go back and get swept into the stone. I for one will definitely do so. [mp]

http://kunstraumproarte.com/

If Lin Cheung, currently holding the jewellery class at the Alte Saline Hallein, could have any superpower she wanted, I'm pretty sure she'd choose sapient touch, a power that lets you access the stories of anything you touch.

These stories that objects contain are of big interest to her as she explains this Wednesday in her lunchtalk. Especially the ones that are broken, lost or whose purpose has been transformed intrigue her to no end. She applies this to normal objects, "as mundane as possible", she adds, exploring the way we perceive and use them, but also to jewellery. She likes to turn objects and situations into jewellery as well, like a wall of a London museum still destroyed from the war, left this way as a memorial. As a child, growing up in London, she would always run her hands over the little craters and other scars adorning the building. In 2009 she came back to the location and made casts of the holes, turning them into broaches .

She's also very interested in the connections between people and jewellery. In Hallein, she hung up pieces of paper in the entry hall and her classroom, asking people to share stories about this relation, of jewellery lost and found, of a piece they especially cherished, of one they came to hate over time ... "This is the fascinating thing also, how objects and jewellery changes over time, when it's found by a new person, when the wearer falls in love, when this love ends."

So, when you make your way to Hallein for one of our lunchtalks or the grand finale on the 26th of August, don't forget to take one of the bright pieces of paper and share your story on it. [mp]

In one of the hidden gems of Salzburg, a tiny gallery space in Mirabellgarten called birdhouse some lovingly call birdcage, opened a very fitting exhibtion by Dénes Miklósi, currently teaching the printing class at the fortress Hohensalzburg, and Miklós Szilárd.

The well-balanced exhibition first strikes the viewer with its starkness. There's no screaming for attention, no gaping mouths and shrill colours, no walls trembling under the weight of excessive draping. Instead, one encounters closed doors and portraits in front of old illusory backdrops that seem small in a world where photography has to be large to be noticed, one might think. Once one looks at them, though, they catch and draw in the look and imagination of the viewer with their condensed intensity.

The exhibition will be running from the 10th to the 26 of August, with the gallery being open Monday through Friday from 10 am to 6 pm. If you weren't there last night for the opening, make sure to take a look one of these days as it really is a fascinating exhibition that left such a strong impression as to even follow me into my dreams last night. [mp]

The first lunchtalk of the new term held by Christian Philipp Müller was well-visitited. After initial technical problems the artists easily sucked the audience into his work, showing lots of film fragments from his various performances, be it crossing the austrian border unnoticed, a project he  did for the austrian pavilion of a Biennale di Venezia where he himself was the acting party, or a project like Burning Love/Der Lodenfüssler where he had 20 members of an auxiliary fire brigade in the area of Ramsau walk the marathon distance of 42,8 km, all covered in - and bound by - a single piece of Loden cloth.

As he talks about his work, it becomes apparent how involved he is in it. The fine line the artist threads, his surroundings, his materials, what he expresses - all this plays a huge part in Christian Philipp Müllers work. He also likes to connect what he does to the location he does it at, like the aforementioned Burning Love project that features Loden, a cloth made from woven wool in a felting-like process, that has been produced in the region for over 500 years. In this spirit, he already took his students out to discover the city and look for inspiring spots. "We're gonna do performance in the city. I was told to stay out of the way of the Festspiele, who seem to completely overtake this city in the summer ... so maybe we're gonna do something about this." he says with a  mischievous glance in his eyes.

In any case, I believe we can look forward to an interesting time with him in Salzburg, and an even more interesting final presentation by his class. [mp]