The inauguration which was supposed to be on 13 March 2020 has been postponed due to Covid-19 has been, however, the new Albertina Modern in Vienna will still be one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art. Thanks to the patronage of the magnate Hans Peter Haselsteiner, around 2500 square meters of exhibition spaces inside the Künstlerhaus, in Karlsplatz, will welcome 60 thousand works, made by 5 thousand artists, both from Austria and beyond.
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During the press conference director of the Albertina, Klaus Albrecht Schröder expressed the need for finding a new space for the collection. For Schröder, the Albertina does not have the opportunity to develop in or near its historical building. So they looked at ways to expand the collection by following the example of what the Tate London did with Tate Modern, MoMA with PS1, Center Pompidou with its headquarters in Metz, or Belvedere with Belvedere 21, and other museums.
The Essl collection is one of the prominent collections of Austrian art belonging to the second half of the twentieth century, including works from Magic Realism, Viennese Actionism and some representative examples of postmodern and contemporary art. An international touch is given by the Jablonka Collection, which sees in addition to the great names of today's German art scene, such as Anselm Kiefer, Georg Baselitz, Markus Lüpertz and Jörg Immendorff, also includes Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Eric Fischl and Robert Longo.
"The Beginning-Art in Austria, 1945-1980" is the title of the exhibition which (soon) will officially open the Albertina Modern. The exhibition itinerary was conceived and designed by the Director and his curatorial team and involves over 75 post-war artists. Amidst revolutions and provocations, works of varied nature will be present: from the greatest exponents of the Viennese Shareholder with Günter Brus, Christian Ludwig Attersee, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Otto Mühl and VALIE EXPORT to the personal languages and relevant poetics of artists such as Franz West, Erwin Wurm and Maria Lassnig.