Why does the City of Vienna acquire contemporary art every year? What role does the Municipal Department of Culture (MA7) play in this, and what role does the Wien Museum play? Where do the acquired objects end up and what happens to them when they are not on display? And what does municipal funding mean for artists based here? The exhibition tells of the handling of contemporary art from the perspectives of the museum, the city and the artists.
Every year, MA7 acquires around 80 works by artists living and working in Vienna. For many, this is the first purchase by a public body at the beginning of their career. An acquisition is not only the recognition of an artistic achievement, but also a continuous survey of the Viennese art scene. The selection criteria of the MA7 expert advisory board, as well as the collection profile of a museum, must keep pace with new material and content-related circumstances. Whereas in the past it was almost exclusively "traditional" works of art such as paintings, prints or sculptures that were considered, today it is increasingly a matter of difficult installations, performances or complex digital objects. A work of art that is purchased in 2024 may shrink or expand, may disintegrate at some point, or may actually have to be performed first. Promoting artistic ideas in as many different ways as possible can therefore be at odds with the task of a collection whose primary task is to preserve objects.
Francis Ruyter: A Moment Passing, 2008 © Photo: Tim Tom, Wien Museum
"Bought. And then?" gives an insight behind the scenes of the city's art acquisition department and the collection work of the Wien Museum. Artists, advisory board members and conservators have their say in order to shed light on the path of artworks from the application for a purchase and the visit to the studio to storage in the depot and their presentation in an exhibition.
September 26, 2024 to February 23, 2025
