58

Across from the Palais des Beaux Arts building, on the opposite side of Löwengasse is Rudolf-von-Alt-Platz. Built between 1906 and 1911, the public square was given the name of the Austrian painter Rudolf von Alt, who died just one year before its construction started. The pseudo-public square is occupied by a lawn of patchy grass, a humble group of trees, an oval planter of roses, and is bookended by a row of trash bins. Passers-by are invited to use only a small amount of the square’s space, delineated by a line of concrete that separates the grass lawn in two. The majority of the green space is surrounded by an ankle-high iron fence, making it unclear if the lawn is merely optical or an invitation to lounge.

‍

Animated by the last presentation of commissioned works at this very same site, artist Guilherme Maggessi will create a picnic blanket for the space as a site-specific installation that invites the viewers into a performative social score. As social infrastructure, the picnic is as much a form of hosting as it is a strategy of exclusion – both of humans (invited guests) and non-humans (the ground plane, bugs, etc.). But as with many social infrastructures it also dwells in ambiguity. Engaging with the ambiguity between social infrastructures and culture-nature relations that are expressed in the design of Rudolf-von-Alt Platz, the picnic blanket will be activated through a series of impromptu fittings, sculptural try-outs, and social gatherings.

‍

The social scores that emerge from the construction and performance of “A Picnic Blank for Rudolf-von-Alt Platz” will then be translated into a series of dead-end assembling instructions, which, very much akin to an IKEA assembling manual, confront the user with their own cultural, social, and physical limitations.

‍

Everyone is invited to the picnic.

‍

*Guilherme Maggessi (b.1994, BR) is an artist, researcher, and designer, whose practice is concerned with the historical and material production, circulation and reception of images. Maggessi recently completed his Master in Critical Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, and holds a B.A. in Visual Communication from the University of Applied Sciences in Mainz. Since 2019 he has been active as a curator in Vienna, co-producing exhibitions such as The Poiesis of Composting (Exhibit Eschenbachgasse), No Final Version (ENTRE), Approximating (AG18). In parallel to his artistic and curatorial activities he has worked with arts-education institutions on artistic research and critical diversity projects (Confronting Realities, PEEK | FWF, Filmakademie Wien, 2022-2024), (Tricky Moments, mdw, 2021-2023). He is one half of Maggessi/Morusiewicz, a duo whose work has been presented, screened, and exhibited at a number of institutions, independent art spaces, and festivals; Belvedere 21 (Vienna, AT), Exhibit Eschenbachgasse (Vienna, AT), Kunstraum Lakeside (Klagenfurt, AT), VBKÖ (Vienna, AT), Festival der Regionen (Upper Austria, AT), wuk performing arts (Vienna, AT), SPEDITION (Bremen, DE), queerANarchive (Split, HR), and film place collective (London, UK).

‍