Pawel Althamer's Participatory Exhibition at the Secession: Art and Public Space Transformation

Pawel Althamer's exhibition transformed the Secession building and garden into a communication space, featuring a tunnel-like passage and an outdoor campfire. The exhibition invited participation and explored the intersection of art and everyday life.

For his exhibition at the Secession, which occupied the entire building and garden, Polish artist Pawel Althamer created a 24-hour accessible, tunnel-like passage that led directly from the building to the garden. In the garden, he initiated a public communication space using simple means, with an evening campfire serving as the focal point for informal gatherings. Althamer had specifically invited various individuals and groups, including students and residents from a refugee house, to participate, with the invitation open to everyone to utilize this temporary free space. Althamer's work is characterized by poetic interventions, installations, and sculptures based on precise observations of everyday situations and social conventions. He frequently invites others to participate in his projects, using these collaborations to examine the daily lives and socio-economic conditions of specific groups. Viewing public space as a stage, Althamer focuses on the seemingly unspectacular, using minimal interventions to highlight or shift the experience of reality. His intervention at the Secession also transforms the traditional perception of the institution, bypassing the usual foyer and guiding visitors through the building to a natural environment and an open, unregulated situation. Continuous change, unpredictability, and a loss of control are inherent to Althamer's work, as is the delegation of authorship, reflecting an artistic understanding that blurs the lines between art and life.

Ticket information is available via a link to an external booking platform. The Secession building is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 AM to 6 PM.