On Sunday, November 9, at 7:00 p.m. the Museum of Tolerance commemorates the 65th anniversary of the infamous 1938 Nazi “Night of Broken Glass” (Kristallnacht) pogrom which targeted 1,000 synagogues in Germany and Austria and marked the beginning of the end of European Jewry.
The commemoration is highlighted by the screening of a documentary by renowned Austrian artist, Gottfried Helnwein, 9th November Night, who has committed himself and his art to reminding the world of the Holocaust. The documentary is based upon his 1988 exhibit of seventeen children’s portraits that were displayed in commemoration of Kristallnacht in Cologne, Germany. Just days into the exhibit, these portraits were vandalized.. “The fury with which the neo-nazis reacted to these portraits is understandable inasmuch as it is the very same fury with which they have for years been fighting against The Diary of Anne Frank,” said famed Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. “The murder of children rouses abhorrence and conflict in every human, whether they are motivated by ideology or insanity. The urge to destroy has survived; the portraits bear witness to its rage.” ...

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Es gibt gewichtige Gründe, um Helnwein als den legitimen Erben Beuys und Warhols zu bezeichnen. Einerseits folgt er in seinen Werken rituellen Mustern, andererseits spielt er mit einer Reihe von künstlerischen Variationen. Er untergräbt die Magie der Bilderwelt, indem er einen Störfaktor einbaut, durch den ein Schock im Verhältnis zwischen dem Kunstwerk und dem Betrachter entsteht. Helnwein vermischt Altes mit Neuem, und sein Stil spiegelt den Beginn der Moderne, aber auch die Welt des Cyberspace wieder. Einen großen Einfluss hat das Wien der sechziger Jahre auf ihn. Auch wird er von der Welt des Comics inspiriert. Helnwein besuchte die 'Höhere Graphische Bundeslehr- und Versuchsanstalt'. Um gegen die tägliche Routine des Klassenzimmers zu protestieren, schnitt er sich mit einer Rasierklinge die Hände auf. Durch diesem Vorfall wurde ihm bewußt, wie hilflos die Gesellschaft auf körperliche Ungerechtigkeit und auf Verletzungen reagiert. Nach dem Abschluss an der 'Graphischen' besuchte er die Wiener Akademie der Künste. Zu dieser Zeit tauchte auch zum ersten mal eines seiner Leitmotive auf: Kinder. Durch das Malen von verletzten Kindern verursachte Helnwein eine Art Schock, und brachte somit den 'Horror' zurück in die Kunst. Damit zeigte er offen den Zynismus einer Gesellschaft, die nicht mehr die Dinge so sieht, wie sie sind, dessen Sichtweise aber durch 'Bilder über Dinge' geprägt ist. ...

Fall of the Angels.
It's a slow fall. Its actually a fall in extreme slow motion. Its so slow that the motion seems frozen, like a glacier that's constantly flowing and moving, though not perceptible to our eyes, because for us, who live short and fast, glaciers appear to be static and eternal.
That former angel seems to be suspended between hell and heaven, It has not hit the bottom yet - and it probably never will - but it's getting closer ....constantly.

Gottfried Helnwein

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group show
Gottfried Helnwein, Thomas Struth, Marie-Lo Lafontaine, Nan Goldin, Vanessa Beecroft, Sean Scully and others
Exhibition catalogue:
Catalogue German / English with contributions by Gabriele Bösch,
Christine Frisinghelli, Rainer Igla / Michael Mauracher,
Edelbert Köb, Lois Renner and Eva Schlegel
The exhibition includes around 85 works from the collection's holdings
and several loans, selected by Gabriele Bösch from the perspective of photo/art. Many of the photographic works owned by the collection are now showcased for the first time and put into a traditional painting context,
thereby inviting an exciting discourse between painting and photography.
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Shakespeare Survey is a yearbook of Shakespeare studies and production. Since 1948 Survey has published the best international scholarship in English and many of its essays have become classics of Shakespeare criticism. ...

Exhibition - catalogue
One man show, Butler House, Kilkenny
Installation in the Kilkenny city center
Introduction by Claire O'Donoghue
Essay by Mic Moroney

Ninety children from around the city and country were photographed by the artist here in the High Street and nine are displayed in central locations around the city, dramatically enlarged up to 9 metres high. This ongoing project, begun here, will continue in other cities and towns in Ireland as the artist intends to expand the work to include one thousand Irish children. These beautiful,confident and happy children from Kilkenny contrast starkly with some of his more disturbing imagery. The juxtaposition of historical photographs of the Nazi regime with religious imagery of the Madonna and Child in the "Epiphany" series can make uneasy viewing not only in Germany and Austria but also here in Kilkenny.
Amongst a number of possible readings of these works is the uncomfortable relationship between the church and oppression in its various forms. However, as the artist Nolde said, "harmless pictures seldom mean anything". Nolde was banned from painting by the Nazi regime. ...

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exhibition-catalogue ...

"This album is about expression. The imagination and personality of the individual cannot be trapped by small minds or defined by any one person. The genious of arts finds sanctuary among children and madmen to survive. That is who we are."
Marilyn Manson has collaborated with Gottfried helnwein for the album's artwork which is part of a greater series that will be published in a book and exhibited in museums across the world. ...

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Seine Kunst arbeitet meistens mit dem Element des Schocks. Er zeigte offen den Zynismus einer Gesellschaft, die nicht mehr die Dinge so sieht, wie sie sind, sondern dessen Sichtweise durch bereits bekannte 'Bilder über Dinge' geprägt ist.
"Die Funktion des Künstlers besteht darin, die Erfahrung eines überraschten Erkennens wachzurufen: dem Betrachter zeigen, was er weiß, von dem er aber nicht weiß, dass er es weiß.- Helnwein ist ein Meister dieses überraschten Erkennens." (William Burroughs) ...

"In Gottfried Helnweins porträthaftem Fotobild, das auf einem Gemälde basiert, betet ein kleiner Junge zu seinem Gott, und wer intensiv hinschaut, entdeckt plötzlich, dass die Hände des Jungen aus diletantisch gefertigten Protesen bestehen, Wie eine optische Mine ist der Schock im anheimelnden Kitschbild verborgen.
Helnwein ist ein Meister in der Entlarvung von verlogener Bildrethorik."
Gabriele Honnef-Harling
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Mit mehr als 170 000 Besuchern war die Ausstellung
"Der (im-)perfekte Mensch"
die bestbesuchte Sonderausstellung des Deutschen Hygienemuseums Dresden seit 1990.
Hygiene-Museum, Dresden - 20, 12. 2000 - 12. 8. 2001
Martin Gropius-Bau, Berlin - 16. 3. - 2. 6. 2002
Kunsthalle, Villa Kobe, Halle, (Saale) - 28. 2. - 14. 4. 2002 ...

Disney artist Carl Barks (1901-2000) created one of Walt Disney's most famous characters, Scrooge McDuck. Barks also produced more than 500 comic book stories. His work is ranked among the most widely circulated, best-loved, and most influential of all comic book art.
Although the images he created are known virtually everywhere, Barks was an isolated storyteller, living in the desert of California and preferring to labor without public fanfare during most of his career.
The influence of Barks's work on such filmmakers as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg and on such artists as Gottfried Helnwein has extended Barks's significance far beyond the boundaries of comics. ...

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How can one recount the Holocaust? That is certainly one of the major questions confronting any writer who tries to write on this theme. How is one to transform the horrific and inconceivable reality into fiction? How can one create a feeling of aunthenticity in the reader? How to disturb his emotional world without resorting to sentimental manipulation and how to avoid banality? ... ...

Putting Holes into Happiness,
Kneel down humble men and become the height of our children. Let your heart crawl into your knee and realize that all knowledge lives through imagination. This is the nursery business, always get a photocopy. Our cultures may continue to disintegrate but we just rebuild with abusement parks, filming the process and replaying it as situation comedy. We wear ribbons, hold hands, celebrate and concentrate on camps that train our kindergartens to shout out "star-spangled" banter.
We will medicate the lunacy of "degenerate" art with heavy doses of old-fashioned (original recipe) family virtues. "Let's make sure all of these offensive forms of entertainment are shown publicly, and burned immediately as a warning to us all!" ...

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...The full-color art encompasses the photography of Man Ray and Cindy Sherman, the paintings of Braque, Dal¡ and Degas, and even an occasional piece of sculpture. Baudelaire's "Giantess" mirrors Gottfried Helnwein's Lulu, a giantess in garters. ...

GOTTFRIED HELNWEIN
構成・解説　伊藤俊治
リブロポート
オーストリア＝ウィーンはヤバい芸術家を数多く輩出／排出している。シェーンベルク、ベルク、ウェーベルンら新ウィーン楽派の音楽、シーレ、ココシュカらの表現主義的な絵画、フックスらのウィーン幻想派。
そして、我らがヒーロー、ゴットフリート・ヘルンヴァイン。 ...