Exhibitions
Viktor Hufnagl
Geometric Theorems
17/9/2022—30/10/2022
The exhibition Viktor Hufnagl – Geometric Theorems is the first installment of Invited to invite, a program in which Franz Josefs Kai 3 – Contemporary Art Space cooperates with institutions from neighboring fields. It was put together by the ÖGFA – Österreichische Gesellschaft für Architektur [Austrian Society for Architecture] to mark the one hundredth anniversary of its founding member’s birth.
Architect Viktor Hufnagl (1922 – 2007) was a pioneer of contemporary school design and an innovator of housing types who viewed his profession as a socio-political enterprise. Demonstrating a clear disposition toward geometric ordering systems, he produced robust buildings and habitats. Beginning in the mid1950s, Hufnagl gained experience in school design in the alpine provinces of Salzburg and Upper Austria. During the 1960s and 1970s, this culminated in his renditions of the Hallenschule, a school type in which classrooms are arranged around a central atrium. The school complexes in Weiz (Styria) and Wörgl (Tyrol) are two of his most important educational facilities.
In his view, vibrant cities are only attainable when spaces for housing, education, work and leisure are interwoven. While Hufnagl’s largest project, the Am Schöpfwerk Housing Estate, was controversial in its day, the housing developments on Gerasdorfer Straße and Zschokkegasse constitute important contributions to Vienna’s stock of multi-family dwellings. Of Hufnagl’s urban design studies – which were only realized to a limited extent – attention is directed to his project for Vienna’s Danube Canal. With it he sought to create a tree-shaded connection between the Vienna Woods in the west and the Prater in the east. Hufnagl’s work on exhibition projects also had a lasting impact on the profession. By presenting material from his archive – including photographic studies and collages, exhibition posters, and videos – that were not known to the public, Viktor Hufnagl – Geometric Theorems offers new insights into his life and work. The original drawings and collages on loan from the Architekturzentrum Wien celebrate the talent of a generation of architects who were educated in the art of expressing their ideas – by hand – on paper.
On display are also new photographs taken by Werner Feiersinger (*1966); they provide a further layer of information for the perusal of the exhibition-goers. The fact that Feiersinger is a sculptor has always been a foundation of his photographic oeuvre. His documentation of three of Hufnagl’s exemplary buildings chronicles the architecture and its sculptural qualities and reveals the degree to which they have remained lyrical places where our day-to-day lives play out.
Curators: Elise Feiersinger, Gabriele Kaiser, Gabriele Ruff – ÖGFA
Architect Viktor Hufnagl (1922 – 2007) was a pioneer of contemporary school design and an innovator of housing types who viewed his profession as a socio-political enterprise. Demonstrating a clear disposition toward geometric ordering systems, he produced robust buildings and habitats. Beginning in the mid1950s, Hufnagl gained experience in school design in the alpine provinces of Salzburg and Upper Austria. During the 1960s and 1970s, this culminated in his renditions of the Hallenschule, a school type in which classrooms are arranged around a central atrium. The school complexes in Weiz (Styria) and Wörgl (Tyrol) are two of his most important educational facilities.
In his view, vibrant cities are only attainable when spaces for housing, education, work and leisure are interwoven. While Hufnagl’s largest project, the Am Schöpfwerk Housing Estate, was controversial in its day, the housing developments on Gerasdorfer Straße and Zschokkegasse constitute important contributions to Vienna’s stock of multi-family dwellings. Of Hufnagl’s urban design studies – which were only realized to a limited extent – attention is directed to his project for Vienna’s Danube Canal. With it he sought to create a tree-shaded connection between the Vienna Woods in the west and the Prater in the east. Hufnagl’s work on exhibition projects also had a lasting impact on the profession. By presenting material from his archive – including photographic studies and collages, exhibition posters, and videos – that were not known to the public, Viktor Hufnagl – Geometric Theorems offers new insights into his life and work. The original drawings and collages on loan from the Architekturzentrum Wien celebrate the talent of a generation of architects who were educated in the art of expressing their ideas – by hand – on paper.
On display are also new photographs taken by Werner Feiersinger (*1966); they provide a further layer of information for the perusal of the exhibition-goers. The fact that Feiersinger is a sculptor has always been a foundation of his photographic oeuvre. His documentation of three of Hufnagl’s exemplary buildings chronicles the architecture and its sculptural qualities and reveals the degree to which they have remained lyrical places where our day-to-day lives play out.
Curators: Elise Feiersinger, Gabriele Kaiser, Gabriele Ruff – ÖGFA