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8. mach – 25. may 2008
26. may – 18. july 2008
19. july – 19. sept. 2008
20. september – 31. october 2008
15. april – 20. july 2009
21. july – 15. september 2009
16. september 2009 – 28. may 2010
29. may – 17. june 2010
18. june – 20. sept. 2010
21. september 2010 – 28. april 2010
29. april 2010 – 17. june 2011
18. june – 23. september 2011
24. september – 31. october 2011
1. november 2011 – 30. april 2012
1. may – 15. june 2012
16. june – 14. august 2012
15.august – 28. october 2012
13. october 2012 – 15. march 2013
16. march – 9. may 2013
10. may – 12. july 2013
13. july – 11. october 2013
12. october – 6. november 2013
7. november 2013 – 24. april 2014
25. april – 13. june 2014
14. june – 9. september 2014
10. september – 29. october 2014
10. april bis 12. june 2015
30. october 2014 – 19. june2015
20. june – 15. september 2015
15. september – 03. november 2015
6. november 2015 – 30. march 2016
1. april 2016 – 13.may 2016
14. may – 30. september 2016
1. october – 3. november 2016
4. november 2016 – 30. march 2017
31. march – 31. may 2017
1. june 2017-18. august 2017
19. august – 10. september 2017
11. september – 10. november 2017
17. november 2017 – 12. april 2018
13. april – 09. june 2018
9. june  – 30. september 2018
30.september 2018 – 5. may 2019
5. may – 30. may 2019
5. october – 03. july 2020­­­
3.­­ july – 30. september 2020
25.­­ november  2020 – 04. june 2021
5. june – 30. september 2021
30. september – 30 august 2021
20. november  2021 – 8. februar 2022
10. march – 30. april 2022
6. may – 21. june 2022
22. june – 3. september 2022
01. october  – 03. march 2023
eva brunner-szabo  |  richard schütz  |  roland schütz
hiroko inoue  |  arno schmid/hans jörg zauner  |  wienstation
behruz heschmat  |  jakob lediger/paul roza  |  ernst logar
martina gasser/elizabeth mcglynn  |  martin krenn  |  wechselstrom
darran leaf
frederic morton
ingo neu
  aferdite pashku
wechselstrom
mara mattuschka
eva brunner-szabo
dorothee golz
andre alves
howard myers
fred misik
regina goetz
behruz heschmat
masc foundation - 39 dada
masc foundation 2013
gertrude schneider
wolfgang ammer
michael kos
oliver marceta
reinhold kirchmayr
chris landreth | ryan larkin
andreas bertagnoll
olivia wimmer
merna el-mohasel
sayoko kinoshita
ralf marsault & heino muller
angela wiedermann
gerhard kofler | elena filatova | thomas redl
ana efe | anna fabricius | thelma herzl
nanni balestrini
shimon lev und friedemann derschmidt
eva-maria geisler
maria lassnig
heinz  grosskopf
howard myers / walter arlen
ernest dichter
sedef hatapkapulu
kote sulaberidze | nino tshilashvili
bele marx & gilles mussard
raja schwahn-reichmann   MASC   39DADA
heinz grosskopf
martin kaltner
roland schütz
amelie goetzl
todd rigos
anna mitterer | felix mitterer
michaela bruckmüller
aljoscha
bruno schulz
konrad bayer
pictures of the opening edith arlen     walter arlen      ernest dichter




the genesis of the project
on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the annexation of austria in march 2008, verein grundstein’s inquiry into the history of the jewish dichter family culminated in the placement of three advertising pillars on yppenplatz in vienna’s ottakring district, showcasing relevant works by various artists. the project, “committed to the memory of all victims of national socialism”, is continued to this day.

säulen der erinnerung – pillars of memory:
an encounter of art and contemporary history in the public space

“our task is to reconstruct the past, and to render the future possible.”
              jean-luc godard

in a sense, public space with its monuments and memorials is the spatial zone of the non-private, the counterpart of individual memory. while public space may be understood as a medium for collective remembrance, with memorials serving to keep the memory and the awareness of a common history alive, the individual memory is the area in which the history of individual experience is stored. referring to and evoking individual memories within the public space therefore constitutes a formal provocation, no matter what the content.

the art project “säulen der erinnerung – pillars of memory” does not aim for a superficial reminder, commemoration or provocation, but intends to trigger a process in which public space becomes a medium for a confrontation with history. this is achieved by renaming yppenplatz to “edith arlen wachtel and walter arlen piazza”, as well as by the presentation of art on and artistic design of the pillars.

as representatives of all victims of national socialism, the art project “säulen der erinnerung – pillars of memory” focuses on two jewish émigrés from ottakring, edith arlen wachtel and walter arlen, both grandchildren of the founder of the dichter emporium (brunnengasse 40, today’s “dichterhof”) and, as living images of memory, takes them back to the place where they spent their childhood and youth.

since 2005, verein grundstein has been researching and studying the history of the dichter family and its emporium, which was owned by the family until 1938. as a homage to the family who were exiled from vienna, the “sammlung dichter” (dichter collection) was initiated in 2006.

during the exhibition “dichter herbst” (dichter autumn) in october 2007, edith arlen wachtel and walter arlen visited vienna, and many of the participating artists developed a strong bond with them.

“up to seventh grade, i went to the oberlyzeum for girls in albertgasse. after hitler’s invasion of austria, i was expelled from school;
i should have moved on to the bürger‑schule for the remaining jewish children; but our mother’s health was very poor, and she needed help at all times. my father was arrested right away; he was in prison. so i never went back to school.”
von links nach rechts: edith arlen (geb. aptowitzer),
leopold dichter, walter arlen (geb. aptowitzer), im vordergrund: peter silberstein; sauerbrunn, ca. 1935

arlen2“i wrote songs; some of them were even performed in public. later, i submitted songs for a competition, and i won the first prize. the prize was practice lessons with roy harris, who was the most famous composer in america at the time (…). i stayed with him for four years, those were my most productive years because i met everybody who was anybody in american music: conductors like toscanini and kussewitzky … harris was in touch with all these people. he travelled a lot, and i was with him all the time. i drove to new york in his car, across the entire country. he always had appointments, meetings, that is how i met those people. his house was a meeting place for musicians. and in summer, he always organised festivals.”
stehend von links nach rechts: walter arlen, dirigent roger wagner, der österreichisch-amerikanische komponist ernst kanitz, der amerikanische komponist john vincent sitzend von links nach rechts: der filmkomponist miklos rosza, die klaviervirtuosin lilian steuber, der brasilianische komponist heitor villa-lobos, die mezzosopranistin nan merriman, die sopranistin vera jean vary; im haus von mina coe, pacific palisades, 1957






mit unterstützung von: ottakringer kulturfreunde      nationalfonds der republik österreich      wien kultur       bezirk ottakring       Falter      cyberlab.at

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