FALLEN TEMPLES

three white partitions, cast-iron column, 2 light-spots, publication, säuling, Semper Depot, Vienna
realized with Anna Spanlang






The „chambre d‘amis“ is an exhibition space, in the form of a white cube, which is located in the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. There is a room within a room, a white cube in a Neo-Renaissance building, consisting of three white walls, covering a floor area of 12m2. The room, where the „chambre d‘amis“ is installed is equipped with 21 columns. Striving for being as neutral as possible – a column-free zone so to say – shape and size of the „chambre d‘amis“ are defined by three iron-cast tubes, which are marking its boundaries.

The „chambre d‘amis“ wants to be curated, but how is the space to be understood? Is it possible to treat it as an autonomous place? Is it possible to hide its surroundings? Since it has neither floor nor ceiling, one has to constantly look out of it. How many white walls needs a white cube? Or is the „chambre d‘amis“ rather a composite of three partitions that are installed on the first floor of the Semper Depot?


Fallen Temples results from these questions and tries using the hybrid state of the „chambre d‘amis“. Instead of interpreting it only as a classical exhibition space, it is extended to a stage for the architecture, in which it stands.
Fallen Temples transforms the „chambre d‘amis“ into a „memorial“, reflecting on its constitution, conditions, and correlations,
while questioning the relationship between art and architecture. 
Through changing the location of the exhibition space, the column(s) is (are) set in the center point and turn(s) into an object of desire, almost fetishized, while markings on the floor with tape make the process of movement visible. A second element of the installation is a publication with various articles on the column, which were specially produced for the exhibition context. They are piled up in the center
of the original location of the „chambre d‘amis“. A further layer of interpretation and involvement of the others, is a „säuling“ at the opening,
where the audience was asked in secret to perform a column for two minutes, after recieving a signal.





publication with contributions by:
Amira Ben Saoud, Anna Crosby, Anna Spanlang, Axel Stockburger, Barbara Bigge, Constanze Ruhm, Dan Wilkinson, David von der Stein, Gottfried Semper, Imke Kannegießer, Iris Blauensteiner, Julio Costa/Andreia Oliveira, Laia Fabre/Thomas Kasebacher, Marie Klein, Marion Porten, Mathias Windelberg, Michaela Schmidlechner, Michel Jimenez, Miguel Magalhaes, Paran Pour, Paul Just, Pia Greven, Sasha Pirker, Stefanie Roenneke, Vladimir Mladenov, Wanda Spahl

Säuling:
a säuling (or soiling) is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an column (from German About this sound Säule  ))
for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and artistic expression. Säulings are organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails.