top 5 exhibitions in Vienna | October | #viennacontemporary Magazine

October started with a lot of art events and contemporary art exhibition openings! We picked 5 of them you shouldn’t miss:

ICON – IDEA. IDEAL. INSPIRATION at Galerie Krinzinger | On view till 25 October 2017 | Seilerstätte 16, 1010
This exhibition shows the artworks of 19 artists, Marina Abramovic and Marcel Duchamp among them to reveal the meaning of ICON for an artist.

ICON – Idea. Ideal. Inspiration, installation view | courtesy Galerie Krinzinger / photo Tamara Rametsteine

Toni Schmale: HOT HOT HOT at secession | On view till November 5, 2017 | Friedrichstraße 12, 1010
The ensemble of concrete and steel sculptures – transition objects, as the artists calls them, aims to show the artist’s reflections on social power relations and a hegemonic society’s stereotypical gender roles.

Toni Schmale, HOT HOT HOT, Ausstellungsansicht, Secession 2017, Foto: Sophie Thun

Natural Histories. Traces of the Political at mumok | On view till January 14, 2018 | Museumsplatz 1, 1070
The exhibitions explores the relations between the nature and the history, between natural and social. Starting from the conceptual art of the 1960’s, it takes a critical view on different issues from colonialism to totalitarian ideologies.

exhibition view Naturgeschichten. Spuren des Politischen / Natural Histories. Traces of the Political, mumok, Wien, 23 | Photo: mumok / Klaus Pichler

Margherita Spiluttini Gartenpavillon Stift Melk, Fresko von Johann Wenzel Bergl, 2008

Gerard Rühm at Kunstforum Wien | On view till 28 January 2018 | Freyung 8, 1010
The retrospective of the crossover artist pays a tribute to the diversity of his works, balancing between text, image and music: typewriter ideograms, “typo collages”, “script drawings”, “photo montages”, and so-called “visual music”.

Gerhard Rühm 1930, Wien, Österreich – , nun bald eben 1989

Das 2. literarische cabaret der Wiener Gruppe. In der Nummer “2 welten” zertrümmern Friedrich Achleitner und Gerhard Rühm ein Klavier auf der Bühne. Wien. Photographie. 1959

Duet with Artist at 21er Haus | On view till 4 February 2018 | Arsenalstraße 1, 1030
The exhibition of over 20 international artistic stances aims to show how artists activate others and call them to action: it’s all about cooperation and interaction. The visitors can participate not only as artists, but also as the art objects themselves.