PRINZGAU/podgorschek :
Pearls

With the not entirely unironical name "Badener Perlen" (Pearls of Baden) PRINZGAU/podgorschek have created a sort of "guide system" at the request of the commissioner, the Kunstverein Baden. In this system various artworks located in outdoor space or in public buildings of Baden are supposed to be illuminated and labeled. The idea is to create a general context for some 30 artworks. To date, four "pearls" have been created. These include concrete cylinders designed in various nuances, e.g., sulphur-yellow in front of the Kurhaus, which have been erected at some distance from the object. They contain the label and at night they reveal an illuminated trail. In a certain sense, they function as a sort of alter ego of their much more artificial art sisters and certainly have their own intrinsic character. Moreover, they lend themselves to being sat on. The "pearls" have a calming and structuring effect on Baden which, as other towns in Lower Austria, is more characterized by a certain arbitrariness in terms of selection and exhibition of sculptural works, which is conditioned by historical factors. Thus they can counter the contingency of history with presence and attention by means of contextualization.
(Susanne Neuburger)