After meeting on 26 September 2024, the jury of Art in Public Space Tyrol 2025, consisting of Catrin Bolt (artist, Vienna), Katharina Hölzl (artist, Vienna) and Lino Lanzmaier (architect, Innsbruck) recommends the four projects Hinschauen by Nicole Weniger, LÜFTLMURALISMO by Kornelia Kugler and Christian Diaz Orejarena, Abgesoffen by Lois Hechenblaikner and Störfaktoren by the collective KünneGrote for realization. The four selected projects relate directly to the theme of the year 2025 STÖRFAKTOREN, which unfold their potential in the moment of disruption and thus open up new spaces. Disrupting Factors that are directly confrontational, raise dust, and draw our attention to problematic areas.
In her project Hinschauen, artist Nicole Weniger explores the location and history of the Martinsbühel home for girls run by Benedictine nuns near Zirl. Not far from Innsbruck along the Inntal motorway, the site of the home is still clearly visible. Girls were abused and tortured for decades by the nuns who worked there, which only came to light in recent years. The home was still being run up until 2008. In collaboration with young female whip-crackers, Weniger is developing a performance that takes up the traditional art of whip-cracking and turns it into an emancipatory act of exorcism. Hinschauen seeks to stimulate engagement with the history of this place and a continuing reappraisal of the atrocious crimes committed here. The performance will be developed in cooperation with the Martinsbühel Tripartite Commission.
Kornelia Kugler and Christian Diaz Orejarena have designed a Lüftl mural in the Tyrolean valley Ötztal by combining the classic, handcrafted Lüftl fresco with socially critical and participatory Latin American muralismo. Both the production process and the image itself are conceived as a discursive collage, inspired and co-designed in conversation with local residents, the use of AI, and current developments on the imaging scene. The power-critical orientation of muralismo expands the traditional folklore of Lüftl to include contemporary debates, generating a provocative approach to discussion set in the centre of Umhausen in the Ötztal valley. The local residents become experts in a process transforming the “All’s-well-with-the-world Lüftl” into a socio-political visual medium adequately reflecting the everyday dystopia.
The project Abgesoffen by Lois Hechenblaikner will feature a kinetic installation in a popular reservoir during the summer months of 2025. Using a construction that remains hidden beneath the water surface, 150 skis will be installed vertically with their tips protruding from the reservoir. Both conceptually and in terms of the structure and materials used, the submission deals with Tyrolean mass tourism and its consequences for climate change. The installation disrupts a popular photographic background for hikers, thus constructing a pointed link to the artist’s photographic oeuvre.
The intervention Störfaktoren by the KünneGrote collective takes a humorous look at the specific urban developments on a typical Tyrolean village street. The project proposal aims to visibly support houses that literally back onto the road because pavements have been removed to improve traffic flow. By installing protective mats, climbing ropes and carabiners, the corners of the houses are turned into mushrooming protection zones that question exactly who is being protected from whom. An often-empty space is enlivened as a place of intervention; the artists will also be running an accompanying workshop.
“A disruption refers to the displacement of order, a caused change of structure, of balance, a restlessness that is documented on the surface.”
Esther Kinsky in Störungen
Often unwelcome as hindrances and omissions, disruptions are an unavoidable part of our lives. But when they make assumed omissions and gaps into their own, disruptions can also be interpreted as a constructive force.
They operate in secret and often become evident only in those moments when they reveal themselves. As a method of disturbing the existing order, disruptions can become a necessity, drawing attention to systemic grievances and errors.
In 2025 Art in Public Space Tyrol is looking for artistic projects that unfold their potential in the moment of disruption, so opening up new spaces. Disrupting Factors that are directly confrontational, raise dust, and draw our attention to problematic areas.
Keywords: Disrupting factor – disturbance – glitch – destruction – omissions – gaps – possibilities
SUBMISSION DEADLINE
20.08.2024
GENERAL INFORMATION
Since 2008, the funding program Art in Public Space has been implemented in cooperation between the State of Tyrol and the Künstler:innen Vereinigung Tirol (Tyrolean Artists’ Association), and financed by the State of Tyrol. For the year 2025, it is being announced for the fifth time under a thematic focus defined by the Künstler:innen Vereinigung Tirol; a focus aimed at bracketing content during the writing of concepts and implementation of the chosen projects. The funding program aims to promote contemporary art and cultural projects in public space, so making the discussion of current social issues accessible to a broad public and initiating dialogue on cultural, social and political topics. The intention of Art in Public Space is to trigger discussions and play an integral role in the development of fresh perspectives.
In this context, there are no limits to the conceivable artistic formats: funding may be granted for permanent sculptural art projects, temporary interventions as well as participatory, performative and dialogical formats in public rural and urban spaces. Special attention will be paid to project submissions that are site-specific and employ inherently communicative formats, as well as sustainability in their implementation. In order to increase the proportion of Art in Public Space projects outside Innsbruck, project submitters are also encouraged to locate concepts and projects outside the state capital. To reach an audience that is as diverse as possible, the projects should represent a synergy between artistic practice and everyday culture. In this spirit, the projected venues may be as diverse as the projects themselves, offering opportunities to make art experienceable beyond the boundaries of cultural institutions.
FORMAL CRITERIA
The project submitter is responsible for obtaining official authorisations.
TARGET GROUP
The call is directed at international artists, artist collectives and curators working in the field of contemporary art. They must be resident in the European Economic Area or the European Free Trade Association.
ENDOWMENT
In 2025, the State of Tyrol’s program Art in Public Space will be endowed with EUR 80,000. The sum of state funding for the projects recommended for implementation can, according to the jury’s recommendations, amount to 100% of the total eligible costs. Two to three projects will be invited for realization from among the projects submitted.
JURY
Three independent, expert jurors appointed by both the State of Tyrol and the Künstler:innen Vereinigung Tirol will choose from among the submitted projects and develop a proposition for funding. The final decision on funding will be made by the member of the Tyrolean State Parliament responsible for cultural affairs.
MEMBERS OF THE JURY
Catrin Bolt (artist, Vienna)
Katharina Hölzl (artist, Vienna)
Lino Lanzmaier (architect, Innsbruck)
SUBMISSION DOCUMENTS
Please send submissions by email only to koer-tirol@kuveti.at and mark them “SUBMISSION KOER 2025”
ANNOUNCEMENT OF JURY DECISION
Autumn 2024
BASIS IN LAW
Submission of an application will not result in a legal claim to funding. The jury’s decision is final. Granting of funds and the handling of the funding procedure will be administered by the State of Tyrol within the context of currently valid subsidy guidelines. The realization of sponsored projects must take place in accordance with the projected timetable.
Information on project costing: The artist’s own services can be listed in the calculation as part of the overall costs, at an hourly rate in accordance with the Fair-Pay guidelines applicable in Austria (www.kuveti.at/kulturpolitik-paytheartistnow/) and with the list of services for the action Art in Public Space. This directive applies only to funding procedures in the context of the action Art in Public Space.
The entrant declares themselves in agreement with the publication of their name and also of any submitted illustrative material, sketches or other visualizations e.g. for media reports or on the State of Tyrol’s homepage and the homepage www.koer-tirol.at
PLEASE NOTE
Sensitivity to gender issues and social exclusion mechanisms is expected in the conception and realization of the project.
Barrier-free access to the respective project should already be taken into account in the concept.
CONTACT
Please address any questions to Bettina Siegele and Cornelia Reinisch-Hofmann at koer-tirol@kuveti.at. The project submitter will be responsible for production assistance and technical implementation on site.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Künstler:innen Vereinigung Tirol is responsible for content, the call for proposals, applications and the appointment of the jury. During the realization phase, it will handle public relations and advise the project participants on questions and problems relating to their projects.