In 2018/19 the State of Tyrol will be setting up the funding provision “Art in Public Space” for the eleventh time.
This action serves to fund both permanent art projects and temporary interventions into publicly accessible space. To mark the Maximilian Year 2019, this time around there will be a thematic accentuation, and the works and their realization will be incorporated into a time frame.
2019 marks the 500th anniversary of the death of Emperor Maximilian I. The Holy Roman Emperor known as the “Last Knight” was born in 1459; an ambivalent figure, he ruled in a Europe torn by epochal change between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. He was influenced by the code of chivalry as well as openness to modern methods in administration and technical innovations in the art of war. (Cf. Habsburger) New images of the world and schemes of order were emerging during this epoch. Maximilian I made use of an ingenious media policy, which made him popular even during his lifetime, and worked hard at historicizing his own person. Traditionally, he is known to have said, “He who does not provide for his memory while he lives, will not be remembered after his death, so that this person will be forgotten when the bell tolls.” He is regarded as a patron of the arts and sciences, and was a pioneer not only of political propaganda but also of self-staging. He contested military struggles as well as media battles with his counterpart, the French King Charles VIII. The many wars he waged were extremely costly, and so he had to take out loans from bourgeois bankers such as the Fugger family. In exchange, among other things, they received mining revenues from the Tyrol (silver mine Schwaz). Although he may have enlarged the Empire skillfully – also via marriage policy and diplomacy –, his heirs had to work hard for many years to pay off a mountain of debts. Emperor Maximilian enjoyed a politically and geographically extensive radius of movement, travelling a lot, but he chose Innsbruck as his residence and liked to stay in the Tyrol because it was ideal for the pursuit of his interests: climbing, hunting and fishing. He left his mark on the entire area of today’s Austrian federal state from Anras to Pflach and from Nauders to Kufstein, but was pioneering in a new dimension of European politics and culture with a media presence unprecedented in his times. In retrospect, the past of 500 years ago reveals how themes like the relationship of power and media, migration, and the market economy emerged at that time, continuing to the present day.
A number of activities are planned in the fields of art and science in the anniversary year 2019. In contemporary art, work in public space is particularly suited to triggering widespread discusssion.
Curators Maria Anwander, Walter Prenner and Franziska Weinberger will select projects submitted following the open call and incorporate them into a schedule of content together with additional works / interventions that they will invite directly.
The independent expert jurors, who will also be acting as curators for MAX 500, will choose from among the submitted projects and develop a proposition for funding. The final decision on funding is made by the member of the Tyrolean State Parliament responsible for cultural affairs.
Members of the jury are: Maria Anwander, artist, Walter Prenner, architect, Franziska Weinberger, art historian
The artists’ association Tiroler Künstler*schaft has been contracted by the State of Tyrol to coordinate the realization the selection process. It is also functioning as a contact partner for further information and any relevant questions. If you require further information etc., please contact:
Tiroler Künstler*schaft
Ingeborg Erhart
Rennweg 8a
6020 Innsbruck
0512/581133
koer-tirol@kuenstlerschaft.at