The Aesthetics of Labour

2024
Installation, Public Space

MuseumsQuartier, Vienna

Curated by Verena Kaspar-Eisert

Over a period of seven days, Rainer Prohaska and his team presented a sculptural performance in the MuseumsQuartier with the participation of the public. Several hundred pieces of standardised VT20 formwork girders from the construction industry were repeatedly rearranged, stacked, layered, assembled and dismantled by the participants over the course of the event. The sculptural arrangement changed constantly. The yellow wooden elements, each 245 cm long, were moved without the aid of electrical equipment. Carrying, lifting, placing and securing were carried out as collaborative activities and gave rise to different sculptural figures. What was essential in this artistic action was not a definitive form, but the experiment, the working process and the collaboration.  

Sustainable practice plays a central role in this project, both in the content of the artwork and in its production. In order to avoid the consumption and subsequent recycling or disposal of materials for the work, all components come from a pool of materials that will be returned to the pool at the end of the project.