Spielplastiken (Play Sculptures) form the main focus of an exhibition presented by Sofie Thorsen (b. 1971 in Århus/Denmark) starting in May 1913 in the tresor of the Bank Austria Kunstforum. For two years, the Danish artist resident in Vienna examined the international phenomenon of children’s play sculptures, sculpted playground objects designed by artists, which proved to be important during the post-war years in the context of discussions on architecture and urbanism. Thorsen’s project resembles an archaeological quest for the “visibility in modernism” (Christian Teckert). She starts with the well-known designs by Aldo van Eyck or Isamu Noguchi and goes on to the frequently anonymous toy figures produced in Vienna during the time of reconstruction as part of a large-scale “Kunst am Bau” (Percent for art) programme – their versatile forms and colourful vocabulary introducing a utopian moment into the triste post-war years.

Based on archive material about the often no longer available Play Sculptures, which shows the erstwhile context of their presentation together with their users, Thorsen subjects the toy figures to an abstracting process and questions their semiotic character. Sofie Thorsen’s interest here is in visually analysing the cultural language of forms and their displays generated at the interface of aesthetic and socio-political aspirations.

Curator: Heike Eipeldauer

Opening May 22 2013, 7.30 pm

Free entry