Safety Curtain 1998/1999

Artists

Walker, Kara

Texts

Everything can be pictured in the form of shadows. Conversation with Kara Walker. – Hans-Ulrich Obrist
Kara Walker's "Theater of Cruelty" – Nancy Spector
Reactions on Kara Walker's Large Scale Picture
Shadow World and Exorcism. Kara Walker's Large Scale Picture in the Vienna State Opera. – Vitus Weh

Curators

Cooperations

Kara Walker, 1998, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 1998/1999, large scale picture

Kara Walker, 1998, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 1998/1999, large scale picture (detail)

Kara Walker, 1999, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Der Standard, 15-03-1999, pp. 20, 21, newspaper multiple

The choice of the international jury (Robert Fleck, Kasper König, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Nancy Spector) for the production of the first large-format picture for the safety curtain of the Vienna State Opera for the 1998/1999 season was the Afro-American artist, Kara Walker. In her cut-out work she confronts Austrian history, and especially that of the Vienna State Opera, in a critical, almost cynical way.

In autumn 2000 the book "Safety Curtain 1 Kara Walker" was published; P & S Wien, Johannes Schlebrügge Editor, 2000. Visit our Webshop.

The project, which was organised by museum in progress in co-operation with the Vienna State Opera, was financed by the sponsoring group artpool (ABB, Deloitte & Touche, Dorotheum, Erste Bank, Glaxo Wellcome, Portfolio Kunst AG, UTA Telekom AG, Wein & Co, Wittmann, Xerox).

Media partners of museum in progress: Der Standard, gewista, INFOSCREEN; Digital Imaging: Vienna Paint; Graphic design: Alexander Rendi; production partner for CALSI: BEKO Ing. P. Kotauczek GmbH, Trevision.