Exhibition “La Collezione LVISE” in the Archaeological University Museum – University of Innsbruck
After being postponed several times, the exhibition “La Collezione LVISE” with works by the Viennese artist Rainer Prohaska was shown in the Archaeological University Museum Innsbruck in March 2022.
The aim of the Viennese artist Rainer Prohaska was to design, produce and make accessible to the public the works of art from the “Louise of Savoy Collection” found during a fictitious excavation on the occasion of the Maximilian Year 2019. The “LVISE” project sees itself as an artistic game with authenticity, authorship and truthfulness in art and art historiography, addressed the gray area between reality and fiction in the transmission of historical events and dealt with the question of how to deal with contemporary art with historical styles and current interpretations of history.
Installation of a closed excavation site in Thaur
The starting point of Prohaska’s concept was an intervention in public space that was implemented as artistic and historical, initially fictitious excavation site, which could be implemented “real” in cooperation with the Chronos association within the outer bailey of the Thaur castle ruins. In October 2019, two large wooden boxes with the remains of an art collection from the 15th century that had been believed lost were “discovered” by Emperor Maximilian, according to tradition, according to his girlfriend Luise von Savoyen (1476-1531), the mother of the French King Francis I. should have given or wanted to give. The documents found, including the “Libro die Modi” and works of art, come from the work of the “Cavalleria Gialli Dell’Assenza” group of artists, which is hardly recognized in art history.
The group of artists “Cavalleria Gialli Dell’Assenza”
In the second step, Prohaska was concerned with developing the aesthetics of the “found” collection and with the conception of its own group of artists, the “Cavalleria Gialli Dell’Assenza”. These were founded, with members mainly from Italy and France, probably in the early 13th century and therefore the High Middle Ages shaped the original style. Initially, most members of the “Cavalleria” still worked on church orders in order to survive economically. More and more, however, they turned to artistic activities that were not tied to sacred commissions and productions. The first works of the “Cavalleria” can be assigned to the Romanesque style. While the sacred art developed in a realistic and complex direction towards the Renaissance, the “Cavalleria” reinforced its simplicity and the radically simplest approach. The stylistic high point of this development, which has hardly been recorded, was found in the works produced towards the end of the 15th century, the group at the beginning of the 16th century.
Image 2: “The Lvise Collection” in the Archaeological University Museum in the ATRIUM Center for Ancient Cultures (Credit: Florian M. Müller)
“Il Libro dei Modi” as a model for contemporary works
The progressive artistic vision of the group was manifested in the long-lost document “l Libro Dei Modi”, which was “rediscovered” during the excavations in Thaur and which is regarded not only as an artistic philosophy but also as a legacy of the “Cavalleria Gialli Dell’Assenza”. can. The main content of the book are examples and instructions for work in the style of the “cavalleria”. It was written to ensure a continuation of the reduced style with instructions for future artists.
As part of the “LVISE” project, Prohaska therefore produced the art book “Il Libro Dei Modi” as the central exhibition object, just like a series of fictitious exhibits that he had made according to the “Libro Dei Modi” and interpreted in a contemporary way in order to express the “Spirito di Cavalleria Gialli Dell’Assenza”. These objects, created as part of the “The Lvise Collection” project, which was funded with the Tyrolean Museum Prize in 2020, have now been presented in the Archaeological University Museum Innsbruck.
The artist Rainer Prohaska
Rainer Prohaska studied “Experimental Design” with Karel Dudesek at the Art University in Linz and at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and completed his studies with distinction in 2005 with Peter Weibel. Rainer Prohaska is internationally successful with his installations, sculptures, architectural experiments and graphic works. Public space as a meeting place and field for social interaction is his preferred field of action. He has participated in artist-in-residence programs worldwide such as Creative Fusion AIR, Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA (2016), Zhujiajiao Himalaya Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2014), Gyeonggi Creation Center Residency, Ansan Si, South Korea (2010–2011) and at the Rauma Artist-in-Residence Program, Finland (2008). In 2009 he received the MAK Schindler Scholarship and in 2015 he was awarded the State Scholarship for Fine Arts by the Federal Chancellery.
(Florian M. Mueller)
Links:
- Florian M. Müller
- Florian M. Müller