GRAZ.- Journeys were undertaken in the 19th century for the cultural ‘conquest’ of the landscape, but also interpretation through painting was one of the key patterns of appropriation. The media of photography, film and computer led to a new perception of reality in the 20th century: maps do not represent land but rather construct it.
The Neue Galerie Graz traces this development as its contribution to the Universalmuseum Joanneum’s thematic focus on ‘landscape’ – with works from the in-house collection by Thomas Ender, Friedrich Gauermann, Michael Schuster and Herbert Brandl among others.
The notion of landscape refers not only to the depiction of nature, but also to the shifting reshaping of nature through effects of our imagination and perception. Landscape as the external home of man is experienced by him as something to be taken for granted, seeming only to penetrate his consciousness more acutely when in a state of catastrophe. Landscape, however, is a real yet also emotional place and, moreover, always the subject of the most varied scientific research.
New technologies such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) are changing both the images of landscape as well as the parameters of their functions – the image of the landscape arises from a highly varied network of expertise.
When landscape painting began in the 17th century mathematicians, fortification builders, ballisticians, geographers and instrument makers were also involved in producing various images of the landscape. Knowledge and benefit were already closely linked. The idea of landscape began to become more complex and to transform itself from that point on.
Landscape thus describes the symbolic unity of nature and cultural patterns of appropriation. This includes both the conquest of landscape in the 19th century through journeys undertaken as well as emotional and sentimental interpretation within the medium of painting. Technical media such as photography, film, video and computer have often supported both the documentary and the scientific aspects, contributing mainly to a change in reality. ‘Nature’ and ‘landscape’ are consequently constructs of reality – maps do not depict land, they rather construct it. Notions such as ‘simulacrum’ and ‘hyperreality’ are closely linked with the perception of nature and the image of the landscape.
In the period captured in this exhibition – from 1800 to the present day – art proves to be the analytical structure of constructed reality. Using examples from the Neue Galerie Graz collection, a multi-medial arc can be stretched over two centuries. In this form, the complex factors and transformational processes effective in connection with landscape imagery and perception of nature are shown. Moreover, the permanent exhibition shows essential positions, such as Johann Nepomuk Schödlberger, Thomas Ender, Franz Steinfeld and Friedrich Gauermann, for example, presented more comprehensively and with greater context. On the 1st floor, works by contemporary artists are shown from the collection, which encounter the theme of landscape in the most varied way possible – Manfred Willmann, Michael Schuster and Herbert Brandl among others.
