Technical coordination for the exhibition at MAK

According to its meaning, a niche opens up a space that it encloses in relation to the context in which it is embedded. It creates space and an independent sphere, which it delimits both structurally and in terms of content, while remaining connected to the larger whole of which it is essentially a part.

Etymologically, the word niche derives from the French la niche, a term that is used more in its Romance source language than in German for the art-historical consideration of works of architecture. This especially under the aspect of their function as preservers of statues and cultic objects.

Embedded in the architecture of the space, the Niche of the Berkson Collection refers to this concept and translates it aesthetically as well as curatorially into a contemporary context as a permanent exhibition display for changing presentations. In the form of a square wall recess in the entrance area of the adjoining salon, it opens up a place designated for art: a minimalist, smoothly cut cube. With its interior dimensions of 100 by 100 centimeters and a depth of 60 centimeters, it encloses the work on display and offers an unobstructed view of it, at about the height of a human torso. However, this is only possible on its front side and - depending on the shape of the object and its distance from the walls - partially on its side views. The back side remains hidden. The niche is unlocked and allows a glimpse into its space, but cannot be entered due to its height.

Unlike a pedestal, for example, if it were placed freely in the room, the possibility of viewing the work from any side is eliminated. In the niche, it is less exposed and stands in a protected refuge where it can lean if necessary. The niche does not foreground, but exposes by withdrawing. It does not indicate the presence of a particular object from afar, but reveals itself only by being sought out and standing directly vis-à-vis in front of it. Thus, only a few can enter into communication with the work of art at the same time.

The walls of the niche protrude a little beyond the wall into the room and thus form an accentuated frame for the exhibited object.

Each show presents exclusively one work, whereby this is created by changing artists especially for the location, and in the reduction of the presentation to one artwork in the broader context of the curatorial concept, it turns out to be an ingenious system of references that is not exhausted in the exhibition of one work, but rather integrates various other elements and conceptually places them in a larger whole. By interrupting the continuity of the wall space as its negation, the niche as a three-dimensional frame with depth effect haptically grasps the object and at the same time, in an optical-indexical assignment, its content as a place of art.

Accompanying each show is a limited edition of the publication "Die andere Seite" ("The Other Side"), which depicts the new work of art on an accompanying large-format poster, sometimes also showing its backside, which is otherwise hidden from view. In the context of artist conversations printed therein with a person from art and theory newly selected for each occasion, insights are made possible into the artistic worlds of thought and creation from which emanations for the niche materialize.

The exhibition series, designed as soirées, incorporates yet another essential element. At each opening, musicians play current excerpts of advanced contemporary compositions, thus expanding the sensory space of experience in the texture of the evening.

Philipp Levar


CURATOR Rainald Franz, Gerson Lessa
ARTIST CONZEPT Mladen Bizumic
TECHNICAL COORDINATION Margula Architects
TEAM Itai Margula, Jane Zandonai
LOCATION MAK
DURATION of the Exhibition 15. Juli bis 13. Dezember 2020
FOTO Aslan Kudrnofsky, Georg Mayer/MAK