N-O-S-W – Never Eat Sour Watermelon 2023

OHE VIENE POR EL AGUA!
OHE, COME FOR THE WATER!

This year, the Institute for Art in Public Space Styria, together with Alexandra Riewe, invites you to four tours in all directions from Graz on the theme of water. The tours will take place for the ninth time this year.

N-O-S-W / NEVER WASH WITHOUT SOAP 2023 What appears to some as a nonsensical imperative is immediately recognized by others as a memory aid from their school days. Starting from Graz, four routes will be taken in the order of the cardinal directions of N-O-S-W (N North, O [Ost] East, S South, W West). English version of this mnemonic trick: NEVER EAT SOUR WATERMELON. The emphasis is on educating people about the permanent and temporary art projects that the institute has initiated or accompanied. Historical works of art in public space are likewise in focus and questions are raised about their representative function and social interaction.

Conceived, reconnoitered, packaged and accompanied by Alexandra Riewe.
 

Projects by following artists:

Fedo Ertl, Serge Spitzer, Manfred Erjautz, Eva Seiler, Christian Eisenberger, Petra Sterry, Anna Popelka, Renate Krammer, Markus Wilfling, Alex Gschiel, Günther Pedrotti, Christina Helena Romirer, Nina Markart, Reni Hofmüller, Nicole Pruckermayr, Robin Klengel, Klammer | Gründler, Doris Jauk-Hinz, Eva Ursprung, Wolfgang Buchner, Stefan Glettler, Gustav Troger u.a. 

Four day trips

Never – FOUNTAIN: Sun, 14.05.2023
Eat – SANUS PER AQUAM (SPA): Sun, 11.06.2023
Sour – STREAM – HYDROPOWER: Sun, 17.09.2023
Watermelon – ORIGIN - SOURCE: Sun, 01.10.2023

DEPARTURE AND RETURN IN GRAZ 10 am departure from Franz-Graf-Allee (Opera) Return around 7 pm The particular meeting points will be announced on the website www.kioer.at and during registration.
 

Registration:

Please register for the outings no later than the Wednesday preceding the trips at the Institute for Art in Public Space Styria: Tel. +43-699-1855-1000 or kioer@museum-joanneum.at Admission fee: 15 €

Participation fee: 15 €

Registration required: +43 699/1855-1000 or kioer@museum-joanneum.at

FOUNTAIN
 

Serge Spitzer was warned by the Graz City Senate that “the Stadtpark fountain is sacred to the people of Graz,” but his BRUNNENWERK LA CONCORDE nevertheless received official approval. In the book offsite Graz, Birgit Kulterer tells how much the city fountains, which were intended for cooling, caused tempers to heat up, leading to the failure of projects by such prominent artists as Michael Kienzer or Erwin Wurm. Whether as “sacred water” or a “precious staple of survival” (Fedo Ertl), the importance of fountains is eminent not only with regard to settlement and social history but not least in terms of art history as well.
 

SANUS PER AQUAM (SPA)
 

“Every bath is a physical rebirth.” (Democritus) We will start at the Tröpferlbad, the former Graz public bathhouse that is now home to the “MUWA – Museum of Perception” and still offers bathing experiences in the SAMADHI-BAD, even if they are transcendental ones. We will see a “lost place” in Laßnitzhöhe, an indoor swimming pool whose basin had already been filled with water, but which has never been bathed in, and we will visit Günther Pedrotti in Fürstenfeld for this year’s YAHOOS GARDEN water biennial.

STREAM – HYDROPOWER

“panta rhei – everything flows” (Heraclitus) We will meet at the Institute for Art in Public Space Styria (KiöR), directly above the Mühlgang channel, adjacent to a small hydroelectric power station. This is a predestined location to understand the sound installations and field research conducted for the KLANGBAD (SOUND BATH) project by Pruckermayr and Hofmüller. The journey will continue southward along the Mur River to Mureck. Intermediate stops will be made at neuralgic points, which also marked the scenes of the communication flow project MUR RE-SOURCE (Jauk-Hinz | Ursprung). With the help of fluid intelligence, we we will try to comprehend the seemingly contradiction of unity and change in the Heraclitean principle.

ORIGIN – SOURCE

“It is no miracle that miracles happen where miracles are believed.” (Ludwig Feuerbach) Sources are often shrouded in myths and symbolize the origin of all life. Our fourth and last trip to the water (OHE VIENE POR EL AGUA!) has the form of a parable, beginning and ending at the source, at the origin. Even without using the touristic-esoteric term “power place,” we can assume that we will experience particularly impressive places on our west tour.