“Bruckner: Symphony No. 5 in B major” in the Carlone Hall of the Upper Belvedere – until September 22, 2024
Vienna (OTS) – As part of CARLONE CONTEMPORARY the installation Bruckner: Symphony No. 5 in B major by the American artist Dara Birnbaum (*1946). Birnbaum developed this in 1995 in a context-specific manner for her retrospective in Vienna, and in 2024 the work was acquired by the Austrian Ludwig Foundation for the Belvedere. The presentation honors the 200th birthday of Anton Bruckner (1824–96).
In an audio collage, Birnbaum compares interpretations of the composition by the conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler and Otto Klemperer in order to examine the close interconnection of the reception of this piece with ideological framework conditions. Using key passages from the score, the artist arranges the acoustic comparison of the two interpretations and supplements this with historical film footage of Klemperer and Furtwängler.
Director General Stella Rollig: The historical-political dimension of Dara Birnbaum’s installation in the CARLONE CONTEMPORARY series is supplemented in the context of the Belvedere by the fact that Anton Bruckner was in the last year of his life in the custodial wing of the Upper Belvedere spent. His music is part of the classical canon and is therefore subject to an ambiguous history of reception, which the artist addresses.
The 5th Symphony is characterized by intensive reworkings by Bruckner himself, but also by the first interpreter, Franz Schalk, who conducted the premiere in the absence of the composer, and thus raises questions of authenticity and originality, as well as interpretation and reception, from the very beginning on. Against this background, Dara Birnbaum is particularly interested in the political use of Bruckner’s work during the National Socialist era, as it was considered Adolf Hitler’s favorite symphony. Hitler’s admiration of the composer and the subsequent National Socialist canonization of his oeuvre were expressed, among other things, in the conscious ignoring of Bruckner’s intended spirituality of his pieces in favor of a propagandistic instrumentalization.
Luisa Ziaja’s chief curator: Dara Birnbaum uses Anton Bruckner’s 5th Symphony, which gives it the title, to trace traces of politics in Austrian music history. It addresses questions of appropriation, falsification and commissioning but also of ambivalence and contradiction.
In the biographies of the two performers, the relationship between music and historical politics is condensed in all its complexity and contradictions: the conductor Otto Klemperer, who was persecuted for being Jewish, was banned from performing in 1933 and fled to the USA, where, unlike many other refugees, he lived in his can build on great successes. Wilhelm Furtwängler, on the other hand, was entangled in the National Socialist system in many ways as a conductor and multi-functionarian. In 1944 he was on the Reich Propaganda Ministry’s “God-Blessed List”, but he repeatedly came into conflict with authority and was banned from any work by the Allied courts in 1947 Collaboration acquitted.
Artist Dara Birnbaum: My paternal grandparents were born in Vienna and emigrated to New York around 1900. I believe my artistic talent comes from centuries of European heritage. The privilege of exhibiting at the Belvedere makes me feel at home in a sense.
On January 13, 1995, I witnessed how Leon Botstein, then conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra, criticized Anton Bruckner’s ongoing censorship
Symphony No. 5 in B major broke through, I was deeply moved. This work, Hitler’s favorite symphony, was not allowed to be played in the United States after World War II. In my research, I found that different conductors interpreted this composition in different ways. In these chaotic times, perhaps it is best to look for the artist’s authentic intent in their creative work and recognize that everything – including art – is open to interpretation. Maybe subtle, but that’s why it’s extraordinarily significant.
Dara Birnbaum was born in New York, USA, in 1946, where she still lives and works today. As a pioneer of media art, she has been devoting herself to a critical examination of mass media images since the 1970s. Her work has received numerous awards and exhibitions, most recently: Tai Kwun, Hong Kong (2023), Fondazione Prada Osservatorio, Milan (2023), Prada Tokyo Aoyama (2023), Museum of Modern Art, New York (2023, also 2008), MoMA PS1 , New York (2019), National Portrait Gallery, London (2018), Cleveland Museum of Art (2018). Comprehensive retrospectives have been held at the Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson (2022), the Miller Institute for Contemporary Art, Pittsburgh (2022), the Museu de Arte Contemporånea de Serralves, Porto (2010), and the SMAK Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Art, Ghent (2009), shown. Birnbaum was also present at documenta 7, documenta 8 and documenta 9. In 1987, she became the first woman in video to receive the American Film Institute’s prestigious Maya Deren Award. In 2017, the Carnegie Mellon University School of Art established the Birnbaum Award in honor of the artist.
The series CARLONE CONTEMPORARY presents contemporary works in the Carlone Hall of the Upper Belvedere. With their positions on the baroque visual program of the frescoes, artists build a bridge from the ancient world of gods of Apollo and Diana to the present.
You can find further information and press photos HERE.
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Petra Fuchs
Belvedere Public Relations
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