Andreas Fogarasi: Haus der Begegnung

Vienna-based artist Andreas Fogarasi has created a large-scale illuminated sign for the cultural center of the 1970s Per-Albin-Hansson housing estate in Vienna. Taking up the former name, “Haus der Begegnung” (House of Encounter), it typographically marks the complex which comprises a public library, adult education center, large event hall, music school and the district museum. The permanently installed white LED lettering covers the building facade, an area of approximately 8 x 18 meters, and was funded by KÖR Kunst im öffentlichen Raum Wien (Public Art Vienna).

The former “Haus der Begegnung,” now “Veranstaltungszentrum PAHO” was planned from 1972–78 as part of the modernist-monumental Olof-Palme-Hof by the architects Carl Auböck and Wilhelm Kleyhons. It is located directly at the U1 underground station Alaudagasse, between the Hanssonzentrum shopping mall and the generously landscaped residential area. As a whole, the complex with about 14,000 residents is a testament to Vienna’s outstanding dedication to social housing, which started in the 1920s “Red Vienna” period, continuing into the present where more than 20% of all apartments in the city are publicly owned.  Apart from combatting housing shortages, much importance was attached to the right to education and equal opportunities. The emergence of places for popular education and culture outside of city centers and bourgeois institutions is rooted in the Labour movements of the late 19th century. Their subsequent development over the 20th century, from the early “Workers’ Clubs” of the Soviet avant-garde up to todays’ Commons, is an ambivalent story of the struggle for emancipation and the ideals of modernity, as well as of political power and its subversion.

Andreas Fogarasi has long been concerned with the history of workers’ and cultural houses. In 2007 his video series “Kultur und Freizeit” (Culture and Leisure), a semi-documentary study of six socialist houses of culture in Budapest, was presented at the Hungarian pavilion of the 52nd Venice Biennale where it was awarded the Golden Lion prize. Haus der Begegnung continues this line of inquiry, creating a typographic sculpture on an architectural scale.

Publication
A 32-page publication with photographs by Wolfgang Thaler and a comprehensive text by Fiona Liewehr is available for free at the onsite public library or can be ordered directly from KÖR (shipping costs apply).

Andreas Fogarasi (b. 1977, Vienna) is known for his works that feed documentary strategies into a sculptural and spatial practice. His work has been shown internationally; solo exhibitions include Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid; Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich; Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig; MAK Center, Los Angeles (with Oscar Tuazon); Trafó Gallery, Budapest; and Georg Kargl Fine Arts Vienna, where he will have a two-person show with Mariana Castillo Deball in January 2022.