Andreas Fogarasi, Markéta Othová: Last Minutes

Kunsthaus Muerz is pleased to present Andreas Fogarasi and Markéta Othová in a duo show titled Last Minutes. Both artists undertake investigations of the world that surrounds us and place them in practices that defy and reinterpret categories of photography, sculpture and the documentary. They deal with notions of time and memory, value and obsolescence.

Andreas Fogarasi presents new works from the series “Nine Buildings, Stripped,” displayed on the left wall of the elongated exhibition space. They consist of material fragments of demolished buildings—facade panels, glass panes, tiles or floor coverings, combined with material samples of the buildings that replaced them. Focusing on the materiality of the city, radically abstracted portraits of specific places emerge that are quasi-photographic and documentary, yet also reminiscent of constructivist and concrete painting.

Markéta Othová has conceived a new installation for Kunsthaus Muerz that brings together individual motifs from her extensive photo archive. Printed in small-format DIN A5 booklets and presented on long tables, the tightly framed color and black-and-white photos create a fragmentary and highly personal inventory of the world. Small objects, the beloved, the useless, the forgotten, patterns, materials, fruits—the images evoke a seemingly intimate world that is nevertheless shaped by the forces of the industrial and the collective.

Andreas Fogarasi (b. 1977, Vienna, Austria, lives and works in Vienna) uses forms of display that are reminiscent of minimalism and conceptual art to explore questions of space and representation. His works critically analyse the aesthetisation and economisation of urban space and the role of architecture and the cultural field in contemporary society.

He has participated in numerous exhibitions internationally. Solo exhibitions include: Quartz Studio, Turin (2023); Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2020); Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna (most recently in 2022, with Mariana Castillo Deball); Proyectos Monclova, Mexico City (2016); MAK Center, Los Angeles (with Oscar Tuazon); Galeria Vermelho, Sao Paulo; GfZK—Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig; Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich (2014);  Trafó Gallery, Budapest (2012); Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid (2011); and at the Hungarian Pavilion of the 52. Biennale di Venezia (2007), where he was awarded the Golden Lion Prize for best national participation.

Markéta Othová (b. 1968, Brno, Czech Republic), lives and works in Prague. With her intuitive approach to photography, she challenges the properties of the medium and crosses the boundaries of its technical canons, thus introducing sensitivity into it and controlling it for her own distinctive way of expression. She relates to the surrounding world through photography and finds minimalist lyricism in the everyday.

Her exhibition Coming Soon, which included retrospective elements as well as a major new commission, was shown in 2022 at the National Gallery Veletržní Palác, Prague. Further solo shows include Nicolas Krupp Gallery, Basel (2018), Fait Gallery, Brno (2018), Karlin Studios, Prague (2015), Bonner Kunstverein (2012, with Ed Atkins), Jiří Švestka Gallery, Prag/Berlin (2011/2010), Mücsarnok Kunsthalle Budapest (2007), The Photographer’s Gallery, London (2006), Neues Museum Nürnberg (2004, with Yoshimoto Nara), Kunsthalle Basel (2000). Her work was included in the first, second and sixth editions of the Prague Biennial, the 1999 Carnegie International, as well as in group exhibitions at Arsenal Gallery, Bialystok; Camera Austria, Graz; Bunkier Sztuki, Krakov; Kunsthalle Baden-Baden and many others.

About Kunsthaus Muerz
Situated halfway between Vienna and Graz, in vicinity to the historic Semmering resort, the Kunsthaus Muerz is an interdisciplinary venue for fine arts, music and literature. The innovative building (1988–1991) by Graz architect Konrad Frey transformed a long disused baroque church into an art gallery, communal spaces and a concert hall.