El Anatsui, XOHANAMI, 2025, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2025/2026, large-scale picture
Pipilotti Rist, Abdominal cavity flies over a dam, 2024, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2024/2025, large-scale picture
Anselm Kiefer, Solaris (for Stanislaw Lem), 2023, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2023/2024, large-scale picture
Cao Fei, The New Angel, 2022, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2022/2023, large-scale picture
Beatriz Milhazes, Pink Sunshine, 2021, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2021/2022, large-scale picture
Carrie Mae Weems, Queen B (Mary J. Blige), 2020, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2020/2021, large-scale picture
Martha Jungwirth, The Trojan Horse, 2019, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2019/2020, large scale picture
Pierre Alechinsky, Loin d'ici, 2018, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2018/2019, large-scale picture
John Baldessari, Graduation, 2017, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2017/2018, large-scale picture
Copyright © John Baldessari. Courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery
Tauba Auerbach, A Flexible Fabric of Inflexible Parts III, 2016, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2016/2017, large scale picture
Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Helen & Gordon, 2015, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2015/2016, large scale picture
Joan Jonas, 2014, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2014/2015, large-scale picture
Oswald Oberhuber, 2013, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2013/2014, large-scale picture
David Hockney, 2012, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2012/2013, large-scale picture
Cerith Wyn Evans, 2011, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2011/2012, large-scale picture
Cy Twombly, Bacchus, 2010, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2010/2011, large-scale picture
Franz West, Drei – Vom Vorgang ins Temperament, 2009, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2009/2010, large-scale picture
Rosemarie Trockel, 2008, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2008/2009, large-scale picture
Jeff Koons, Geisha, 2007, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2007/2008, large-scale picture
Rirkrit Tiravanija, Fear Eats the Soul, 2006, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2006/2007, large-scale picture
Maria Lassnig, Breakfast with Ear, 2005, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2005/2006, large-scale picture
Tacita Dean, Play as Cast, 2004, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2004/2005, large scale picture
Thomas Bayrle, 2003, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2003/2004, large scale picture
Giulio Paolini, 2002, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2002/2003, large-scale picture
Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, Looking Back, 2002, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Komische Oper Berlin, 2002/2003, large scale picture
Richard Hamilton, Retard en Fer – Delay in Iron, 2001, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2001/2002, large-scale picture
Matthew Barney, 2000, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 2000/2001, large-scale picture
Christine and Irene Hohenbüchler, 1999, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 1999/2000, large-scale picture
Kara Walker, 1998, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, 1998/1999, large scale picture
Curtain – Vorhang, 2017, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, Vienna: Verlag für moderne Kunst, 2017, publication
Photo: Andreas Scheiblecker, Copyright: museum in progress
Curtain – Vorhang, 2017, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Vienna State Opera, Vienna: Verlag für moderne Kunst, 2017, publication
Photo: Andreas Scheiblecker, Copyright: museum in progress
Cao Fei, The New Angel, 2022, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, C-print, Acrylic glass, Alucubond, edition
Photo: Andreas Scheiblecker, Copyright: museum in progress
Beatriz Milhazes, Pink Sunshine, 2021, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, lithography, edition
Photo: Andreas Scheiblecker, Copyright: museum in progress
Carrie Mae Weems, MJB – Reflection, 2017/2020, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, Fuiflex on Alucubond, edition
Foto: Andreas Scheiblecker, Copyright: museum in progress
Tauba Auerbach, Helix Latch, 2016, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, 3D print, hanging sculpture, edition
Photo: Andreas Scheiblecker, Copyright: museum in progress
Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Helen & Gordon, 2015, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, digital pigment print, framed edition
Photo: Andreas Scheiblecker, Copyright: museum in progress
Joan Jonas, 2014, Safety Curtain, museum in progress, serigraph, edition
Photo: Andreas Scheiblecker, Copyright: museum in progress
"Safety Curtain" is an exhibition series conceived by museum in progress in cooperation with the Vienna State Opera, which transforms the safety curtain into a temporary exhibition space for contemporary art. For the 28th Safety Curtain, the jury (Daniel Birnbaum, Bice Curiger and Hans-Ulrich Obrist) selected the artist El Anatsui.
This year’s Safety Curtain project and the ongoing work of the non-profit organisation museum in progress have been generously supported by El Anatsui through the creation of two limited edition artworks. These wood prints have been developed by the artist from two individual wooden figures from the sculptural installation on which XOHANAMI is based, at the printing studio of Chavanne & Pechmann in Apetlon. Further information is available at office@mip.at, where you can also join the subscription list.
The exhibition series “Safety Curtain” is a project of museum in progress in cooperation with the Vienna State Opera and the Bundestheater-Holding. Jury: Daniel Birnbaum, Bice Curiger and Hans-Ulrich Obrist. 2025/26 made possible with the generous support of iSi Group and Goodman Gallery. Further support from Hotel Altstadt, ART for ART, Bildrecht, Embassy of Ghana in Vienna, Schloss Gobelsburg and SO/ Vienna. Media partners: Bloomberg Connects, Die Furche and Die Presse.
In 2002/03 museum in progress presented a "Safety Curtain" by the artist duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset at the Komische Oper Berlin. Curator: Ina Blom. In 2019 the Safety Curtain "Helen & Gordon" by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (from 2015/16) was newly presented at the Opéra Théâtre de Metz in cooperation with the Centre Pompidou-Metz.
The large-format pictures (Vienna: 176 square metres, Berlin: 90 square metres) are produced and installed using an innovative process: The images are printed on plastic-nets and they are fixed with magnets on the safety curtain.
Editions of some works from the exhibition series "Safety Curtain" have been published at museum in progress, see: mip.at/en/shop.
Production: Trevision; Digital Imaging: Albert Winkler
