Brigitte Kowanz
fountain

The artistic intervention by Brigitte Kowanz turns this object into a singular occurrence. Our world would, of course, be unbearable without the radical quality of just such occurrences. At the same time, the artist seems to have succeeded in invoking the memory of an eventful and significant piece of industrial history. And indeed, one reason why her newly created light sculpture gives rise to such gripping urgency is that there is no other place where it could be repeated in its existing form.
—pn

Permanent installation on site at Glanzstoff, St. Pölten, Austria

Commissioner: Cornelius Grupp
Art director: Peter Noever
Project management: Michaela Hartig, Alfred Plank,
studio Kowanz: Michaela Ruttmann
Curatorial Assistance: Adrian Kowanz

Catalog “Brigitte Kowanz. fountain” published by
VfmK Verlag für moderne Kunst – www.vfmk.org
ISBN 978-3-903153-78-3
Editor: Peter Noever
Texts by Michael Rotondi, Christoph Doswald,
Alexandra Matzner, Cornelius Grupp and Peter Noever

Light is what you see

For over a century, the smokestack of the Glanzstoff Austria factory dominated the St. Pölten cityscape. But in the wake of a 2008 fire, the production of viscose fiber ceased here forever.
This former industrial site is now about to be redefined, a process that will be festively initiated by Brigitte Kowanz with the inaugural illumination of her light sculpture Fountain on 15 September 2017.
This sculpture was purchased at the initiative of Cornelius Grupp and will now stand permanently as a shining beacon for the city: light is what we see.

Brigitte Kowanz is one of today’s most important Austrian artists, the professor and head of the Transmedia Art class at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, and the representative of the Republic of Austria of this year’s Art Biennale in Venice.

Press

“Fountain” by Brigitte Kowanz — article “Eine Stadt im Wandel”, News 14-2019, Vienna, Austria. Photography: Ricardo Herrgott