Werner Reiterer :
Wasser Marsch!

When a visitor comes closer than a metre to the façade of the Kunstraum Weikendorf they set off motion detectors activating the illusion of a hefty storm within the space which has no impact on the outside. Werner Reiterer, born in 1964 in Graz, positions himself with "Wasser marsch!" (Water, march!) in an art historical line with those artists who — from Giorgione to Walter De Maria — have attempted to capture storms and bad weather artistically, containing their potency to control their effect. Werner Reiterer awakens this manifested impression with an installation in a former fire station that has been converted into an art space. In so doing he combines his conceptual site-specific approach with institutional critique. Reiterer's intervention provides a visualisation of society's demands to tame both nature and art, even if these two phenomena will never be as successfully brought under control as the artist succeeds in doing with the aid of lighting and audio technology (assistant: Thomas Sandri). When Werner Reiterer "ensouls" spaces or technological systems he simultaneously brings existentially humane aspects into play that are reminiscent of other series of his works for which he uses sculptural self-portraits. To the extent that the allegory of a 'tamed storm' remains entirely open to psychological interpretation, Wasser marsch! touches on portraiture. Like every artwork of relevance Wasser marsch! says something about the state of art, the state of the world and our own condition.
(Martin Fritz)