The module mediates the knowledge about the idea of space in architecture from historical religious architecture to museum architecture. The idea of space is developed with regard to art. In the confrontation with art and its exhibition the students examine in the lectures artistic works, forms of curatorial practice, display theory and practice as well as collection rooms and museology from the perspective of the architectural design of space. Exhibition design and display form an emphasis which finally results in the subject of design museum architecture.
The curatorial practice, museum preconditions and the realization of the exhibition architecture are mediated. Theoretical knowledge is exercised in practical exercises and brief designs.
Students learn on the basis of simple tasks practical knowledge on the architecture of collecting and exhibiting.
MODUL LECTURES AND COURSES
Core subjects (10.0EC)
VO Curatorial Architecture
A basis for discussion and work will be created by analysing artistic interventions and understanding the artistic perception and artistic handling of spaces of different scales, from private space to the museum to the city and the landscape. Building on this, the central role of space in contemporary art production will be examined and the development of curatorial practices in the field of tension between art and architecture will be worked out by means of concrete examples. The key role of spatial and political contextualisation as well as the interaction and mutual influence of artistic and architectural working methods will be made more concrete in exercises.
VU Display: Strategies of Showing
In the architecture of an exhibition, the display, which is developed by means of analysis and presentation of strategies of showing, occupies a central position. Historical examples will be traced back to basic concepts and will be typologically examined, critically reflected and further researched with regard to their significance for contemporary exhibition practice. The focus will be on the architecturally and spatially designed relationships between the exhibit and the display in practices of showing, visualising and contextualising objects.
VU From Installation to Exhbition Space
Historical and contemporary exhibitions in the field of tension between private and public exhibition formats will be analysed and contrasted, with a special focus on interventions in space. The historical investigation of the installation leads to a discussion of the changes it has brought about in the exhibition space and the associated museum typologies beyond collection formats. The precise knowledge of the exhibition history in relation to the space serves as a tool for dealing with questions of architectural typology.
VU Exhibition Architecture and Museology
The research focuses on museum typologies and exhibition architecture as public spaces, places of memory and learning, and their social relevance. The research into historical examples and utopias will lead to the discussion of current questions about the future of exhibition spaces. At the centre of this exercise is the spatial notation of the content developed. The spatial location of the research will serve as a tool for learning and linking the thematic content.
VU Collection Spaces, from the Cabinet of Curiosities to the Display Depot
Various different collection spaces will be researched, analysed, documented and archived. Criteria of different spaces will be presented in relation to the collection’s contents and their respective collection logics and will be developed through discursive analysis. Questions relevant to research will be defined, worked on and put up for discussion. The results will be publicly discussed, documented and published and form the basis for a more in-depth examination.
Additional subjects (5.0EC)
VO Museum Architecture
Various different museums will be researched, analysed and documented in detail. Typological features will be differentiated from site-specific features by comparison and juxtaposition. Built and unbuilt museum designs will be related to each other based on research questions. The collection and exhibition practice interwoven with European art history will be deconstructed and updated for contemporary museum practice.
VU Spatial Art and Art Space
The central issue is the spatial handling of events and content in museum practice, which may also have been forgotten or repressed, and the critical examination of the accessibility and communication of art in relation to social and political contexts. Through historical research and its representation, the handling of events in exhibition practices will be explored that go beyond the object and problematic as well as less visible content will be made experienceable and put up for discussion. Starting with research tasks, findings will be discussed and compared. Research questions will be defined and then worked out in depth.
VU Architecture and Art in Sacred Space
Historical and contemporary forms of sacred interior design will be researched, documented and analysed in relation to their liturgical content and social and spatial contexts. The integrative interaction of architecture and art in sacred spaces as well as questions of monumentality will be addressed in distinction to museum practice and will be considered as part of the contemporary art and architecture discourse.
Excursion (2.0EC)
EX Kunst:Raum
The content of this course is the analytical preparation and the visit of a specific selection of places that are characterised by a special relationship between architecture and space. The confrontation with cultural attitudes and especially with unfamiliar perspectives on architectural space will be practised in the excursion in order to be able to analyse, document and evaluate spaces in their architectural quality.The focus of this semester is on ateliers and archives. Selected works are viewed, documented and presented virtually.
Lecturers
Wilfried Kuehn
Marko Lulić
Eldar Hajdarević
Julia Nuler
Basma Abu-Naim
Vanessa Joan Müller
Elisabeth Zeininger
Anton Kottbauer
Further information
Kick-off: Wed, March 5th, 2025, 9am, in Hs7 Schütte-Lihotzky, Hof 2, Stiege 7