Kissing Minimalism.

"It's art, when one says it's art", says Carl. "In case of doubts - me! I can say that. And I have to find at least someone who believes me. Then it's art." (excerpt from "Mein Kleiner Bruder", by Sven Regener, 2008)

I would have been happy with this explanation, however, especially the late sixties Minimalism makes it hard to get into this art movement. The saying "I could have done that!" might be obvious.

Minimalism does not want to inspire the viewer by esthetic or artistic mastery, but by the total reduction of the artistic means of expression. Minimalism in visual art is stripped down to its most fundamental features - nothing should distract the beholder. The artist aims to accomplish an absolute uniform perception. Really?

In 1977, Ruth van Herpen kissed a a white monochrome painting by Jo Baer at the Oxford Museum of Modern Art and left a lipstick mark. At court, she explained, “[The work] looked so cold. I only kissed it to cheer it up.” An act of passion or just vandalism?

Even in minimalism, it seems, it is not possible to achieve an equalized experience of art..

Jo Baer, kissed by Ruth van Herpen (simulation)

Twentysix Viennese Gasoline Stations.

Sebastian Hackenschmidt and Stefan Olah were definitely inspired by Ed Ruscha and his 1963 released book 'Twentysix Gasoline Stations' when he published 'Sechsundzwanzig Wiener Tankstellen'. It is an intriguing idea - to randomly pick a motif and publish a picture series of it. Gas stations - but couldn’t it be anything? The artist's selection makes the difference, however. What do the items have in common and what are the similarities between the chosen things? 'Sechsundzwanzig Wiener Tankstellen' is more than a child of Ruscha's pop art book, it is a snapshot of the everyday urbanity of Vienna and the patchwork of styles, functions and ages.

 Especially in the densely populated innercity, gas station have to adapt to the tiny niche-spots and become small hybrid structures between the built environment. Hidden sometimes in exisitng architecture, gas stations advert to the street traffic by signs, roofs and other tools and compete visually against the buildings and places they occupy. A miniature version of the '"mobility dreams'. gas station usually sell. The beauty of the gas stations might lie in their unfinished and the provisional look-and-feel - architecture as building mutation.

 Stefan Olah: Sechsundzwanzig Wiener Tankstellen von Sebastian Hackenschmidt von ROMA Publications  

(an)architecture 3.0

Was the pause too long? After more than three month of posting abstinence it is tricky to continue. For me, it is still unclear what it means to be an architect. Are we engineers? Artist? Inventors? Bohemianism? Researchers? ...? Anyway, the journey goes on.