Utopia: Gesamtkunstwerk

Utopia Gesamtkunstwerk attempts to analyse a phenomenon, which has been hotly debated for more than 100 years. Avant-garde art, in which the idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk (total/universal art-form) came into bloom, has installed a first shift in meaning of the term as a unit of art and life.

This publication and the exhibition Utopia Gesamtkunstwerk (21er Haus, Vienna, 20 January - 20 May 2012) begins where Der Hang zum Gesamtkunstwerk ended (Harald Szeemann's landmark show he curated in 1983). Featuring more than 50 artists from the 1950s until today it presents a new views on the phenomenon.

A comprehensive display, conceived by the artist Esther Stocker for Utopia Gesamtkunstwerk, serves as a stage for works by Marc Adrian, Klaus Auderer, Josef Bauer, Joseph Beuys, Monica Bonvicini, Christian Boltanski, Marcel Broodthaers, Günter Brus, Daniel Buren, Tom Burr, Ernst Caramelle, Bernhard Cella, Cityrama, Heinz Emigholz, VALIE EXPORT, Claire Fontaine, Peter Friedl, gelatin, Inspection Medical Hermeneutics (Pavel Pepperstein, Sergej Anufriew), Isa Genzken, Liam Gillick, Franz Graf, Thomas Hirschhorn, Julia Hohenwarter, Hans Hollein, Christian Jankowski, Ilya Kabakov, Tillman Kaiser, Jean Kalman, Ian Kiaer, Friedrich Kiesler, Martin Kippenberger, Mahony, Gordon Matta-Clark, Ralo Mayer, Paul McCarthy, Jonathan Meese, Hermann Nitsch, Oswald Oberhuber, Hermann Painitz, Seb Patane, Helga Philipp, Walter Pichler, Marjetica Potrc, Jason Rhoades, Thiago Rocha Pitta, Gerwald Rockenschaub, Constanze Ruhm, Gerhard Rühm, Markus Schinwald, Jörg Schlick, Christoph Schlingensief, Gregor Schneider, SUPERFLEX, Una Szeemann, Peter Weibel, Franz West, WochenKlausur, Fritz Wotruba, Heimo Zobernig and others.