Museum Liaunig

Partner Museum of the Blickachsen 11 exhibition

The defining features of the Museum Liaunig, situated in southern Carinthia, are its permanently expanding collections concentrated on contemporary art, and its exceptional architectonic quality. Nestling perfectly in the Carinthian landscape, this private museum, opened in 2008 by the industrialist Herbert Liaunig, has become not only a cultural landmark of Carinthia, but also an established ‘must-see’ destination as an example of high-quality museum architecture in central Europe.

The Museum Liaunig possesses one of the most extensive collections of Austrian art since 1945, complemented by earlier examples of classical modernism and an exemplary selection of works by international artists. As a programmatic contrast to contemporary art, the museum also presents historical collections of decorated glassware and portrait miniatures of the 16th to 19th centuries, as well as a representative collection of the art of African glass beads, which have found a perfect architectural setting in the already listed museum building, so carefully embedded by the architects of querkraft into its landscape surroundings. Above the museum, which is mostly underground, extends a sculpture park.

At this point, I would very much like to pass on the thanks of the Museum Liaunig for Blickachsen’s invitation to be this year’s partner museum for “Blickachsen 11”, and to convey their great pleasure at the opportunity this multifaceted international exhibition at the same time presents, of offering an insight into the rich variety of Austrian sculpture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

“Blickachsen” is a unique instrument for presenting contemporary sculpture. Alongside the wonderful opportunity of enriching historical locations with contemporary art, it is that fundamental impulse rooted in the sight lines conceptualized by the garden architect Peter Joseph Lenné that I find so fascinating. Thus, to have now had the opportunity – on behalf of Museum Liaunig – to create an art landscape in the Rhine-Main region together with Christian K. Scheffel is, for me, a great honour. The public space does not have the threshold that one has to cross in a museum. A park, a garden, a walk-in courtyard are always also meeting places. In the process of planning and choosing works, many things are simulated. Now, however, I look forward to the real event.

Dr. Maria Schneider, co-curator of “Blickachsen 11”
on behalf of the Museum Liaunig, Neuhaus, Austria

Museum Liaunig
9155 Neuhaus 41
Austria
www.museumliaunig.at/en