Walter Pichler Objects

Walter Pichler (1936–2012) gained fame in the 1960s with technoid, seemingly prosthetic-like structures that were inspired by the aircraft and car industry and designed for a futuristic-mediatized world. The provocative spatial utopias and visionary "prototypes" that he developed at the time in Vienna together with architects Hans Hollein and Raimund Abraham were legendary; they were shown in a spectacular exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1967. This book focuses on five significant early sculptures. Numerous corresponding works on paper and other accompanying materials help embed them into the context of their genesis. In addition to Pichler's approach to drawing in order to examine his ideas, two formal aspects of his work come to the fore–on the one hand the principle of doubling or mirroring, particularly obvious in the hollow as well as negative form in his work "Schmetterling" (1962), on the other hand the "Säulchenstruktur" (pillar structure), apparent, for instance, at the base of "Frau aus Metall" (1975–90). This conclusively elaborated volume illustrates that Walter Pichler's work, genuinely conceived from an artist’s point of view, managed to add–beyond its substantial contribution to "radical architecture"–to a progressive reflection of modernism, preserving formal and humane aspects.

Bart Lootsma, b. 1957 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, studied architecture at the Eindhoven University of Technology during 1975–1984. He is a historian, critic, and curator in the fields of architecture, design, and fine arts. He holds the chair for architectural theory at the Leopold-Franzens University of Innsbruck and is also professor at the Institute for History, Theory and Critic in Architecture at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna. Margareta Sandhofer, b. 1968, is an art historian and art critic; she is focused on contemporary art and artists. Elisabeth Thoman is an art historian and, together with her husband, owner of the Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman in Innsbruck and Vienna. Founded in 1977, they represent some of the most important, internationally renowned contemporary artists from Austria, including Bruno Gironcoli, Hermann Nitsch, Walter Pichler, Arnulf Rainer and Franz West. Their profile is complemented with significant international positions, always taken in a cultural context, such as those of John M Armleder, Günther Förg, Jürgen Klauke and Tal R. The younger generation of artists is represented by Herbert Brandl, Carmen Brucic, Thomas Feuerstein, Michael Kienzer and Florin Kompatscher.