Martin Praska :
Zistersdorf Senior Citizens’ Nursing and Care

My granny spent her last days at an old people's home in Altmünster. She died when I was still a small child. Everything there was old: Altmünster (Alt = old), the old people's home, a yellow house from the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, its residents, granny herself with her black dress and the white apron. And the tree in the drive, too. The old people sat underneath it on a bench running around its thick trunk. The men smoked long pipes and had white beards. The women wore white pinafores. It was cosy. Nothing else to do. A home for the elderly has been built in Zistersdorf that my granny wouldn't even have dared to dream about. For, alongside all the comfort, her grandchild has made it even more beautiful with his art. Too beautiful to be contemporary, if only... yes, if only Joseph Beuys hadn't invented the hare. Sorry, I meant the Social Sculpture of course. And so I've taken the liberty – naturally only where the hare is concerned – of citing the master. One has to imagine it like this: There is a lime-tree in the middle. The people are sitting in the shade beneath it. Little hares are hopping around in the background. The therapeutic quality of pets is well known. Added to this is the social aspect: The others want to have a turn at stroking them! And so the people come into contact with one another. The bucks are vital, which is of benefit to the general atmosphere as a whole. And the art? Even Beuys failed to explain his hares adequately.
(Martin Praska)