In HOUSE OF CONSTRUCTS Giannotti challenges the conventional use and understanding of exhibition spaces—ranging from operational aspects like opening hours and ticketing to the sharing and experiencing of art within them. The project invites visitors to engage with a variety of artistic processes on their terms, emphasizing the creation of meaning through collaborative, repetitive and accumulative practices that blur the lines between art and labor. The exhibition becomes a crucible for exploration, where choreographic practices, labor tools, and materials like scaffolding and stage elements catalyze the formation of a shared vision. Incorporating sound and social sculptures, and engaging museum guards in the performative process, further dissolves the boundaries between artists, institutional staff and the visitors.

At the heart of HOUSE OF CONSTRUCTS lies a deep inquiry into the role of exhibition spaces within the contemporary art landscape, promoting them as arenas for human interaction and novel forms of community. Each day, Giannotti sets the stage for one of 19 process-oriented scenarios, collaboratively exploring the multifaceted potential of exhibition spaces together with choreographer Pauer, visual artists, choirs, performers, musicians, museum guards and further Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien staff. The main hall of the institution transforms daily through these instruction-based interventions. This approach not only celebrates the act of creation but also the myriad interactions and encounters it fosters, elevating the significance of a community-driven process over the final product.

Set within the historically classical context of the Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien, which has been showcasing visual art since 1989, HOUSE OF CONSTRUCTS presents a compelling juxtaposition. It invites a reinterpretation of a space typically linked with the completion and refinement of art, proposing instead a setting that embraces the raw and the emerging. HOUSE OF CONSTRUCTS extends a warm invitation to all visitors to engage, experiment, and explore an ongoing dialogue that spans past, present, and future conceptions of art, work and community, ensuring a unique and enriching experience with every visit.

Aldo Giannotti, born in 1977 in Genova, Italy, is a visual artist living and working in Vienna since 2000. Drawing plays a central role in the artistic practice of Aldo Giannotti, serving as a tool to communicate socio-architectural, socio-political, and socio-cultural concepts. He completed his studies at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Carrara, Italy; the Wimbledon University of Arts in London, England; and the Fine Arts Academy in Munich, Germany. His work has been presented and realized in collaboration with various institutions, such as Albertina, Vienna; Kunsthalle Wien; Lentos Museum, Linz; OK-Zentrum, Linz; Kunsthaus Graz; Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Vienna; Ar/ge kunst, Bolzano; Künstlerhaus Dortmund; Museum der Moderne, Salzburg; Austrian Cultural Forum, London; Donaufestival, Krems; Museum Sztuki, Lodz; Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb; and many more. In 2021, he held his solo exhibition 'Safe and Sound' at the MAMbo Museum d'Arte Moderna in Bologna. He was the recipient of several awards and grants, such as the Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant (2020), the first prize of the Austrian Graphic Competition at Kunsthalle Innsbruck (2019), the Pomilio Blumm Prize in Milano (2017), and the recognition award of Strabag Kunstforum, Vienna (2016).

Karin Pauer is a Vienna-based performer and choreographer. The exploration of relations, in betweens, empathy, and togetherness informs all her works. She negotiates these notions by combining embodied choreographic practices with language, visual arts, and live music. In 2008, she received her Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Choreography at the ArtEZ Institute of Arts in Arnhem, The Netherlands. Since then, she has collaborated with choreographers, theatre directors, filmmakers, and visual artists such as Doris Uhlich, Random Scream/Davis Freeman, Mike O’Connor, Maureen Kägi, Veronika Franz, Katrin Hornek, and Aldo Giannotti, among others. Since 2015, she has continuously worked with the Austria-based dance company Liquid Loft/Chris Haring. She was a recipient of the danceWEB scholarship in 2009 and the TURBO Residency in 2012, both at ImPulsTanz, Vienna. In 2018, she was granted the BKA START Scholarship. In 2020, she was nominated for the EU choreographic platform Creative Crossroads as part of Life Long Burning. Her own works have been presented at ImPulsTanz, Vienna; Tanzquartier Wien; Donaufestival, Krems; brutWien; Wiener Festwochen; MAMbo Museum, Bologna; and various international festivals. Her current work, testing grounds, a collaboration with Katrin Hornek, is on view at Secession Vienna until June 2024.

PROGRAM NINETEEN MUSEUMS

For each of the nineteen days of the exhibition, Aldo Giannotti has worked out a different process-oriented scenario. Together with choreographer Karin Pauer, visual artists, choirs, performers, musicians, museum guards and further staff of the Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien explore the multifaceted potential of exhibition spaces. The main hall of the institution transforms daily through instruction-based interventions, proposing NINETEEN MUSEUMS – nineteen alternative museums. Workshops, performances, discussions and encounters turn the space into an arena of human interaction.

DAY 1
OPENING: Wed, 12 June 2024, 7 p.m.
MUSEUM OF SECURITY
For the opening, 30 additional museum guards will be on duty at Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien.

DAY 2

Thu, 13 June 2024
MUSEUM OF RECREATION
A sculpture spelling out dopolavoro is created live during the exhibition's opening hours. For the rest of the show, it serves as an after-work meeting spot for museum staff, visitors, and artists alike.
A collaboration with Peter Sandbichler.

DAY 3
Fri, 14 June 2024
MUSEUM OF INCLUSION
A call centre is set up in the main space of the institution with the task to reach out to random citizens of Vienna and invite them to the exhibition. These calls are broadcasted live.

DAY 4
Sat, 15 June 2024
MUSEUM OF VOICES
Different choirs with diverse musical specialization from all over the city are invited to hold a collective rehearsal in the institution.
A collaboration with Construction Choir Collective.

DAY 5
Sun, 16 June 2024
MUSEUM OF DRAWING 
A nude-drawing class is organized in which the artist himself poses as model.
A collaboration with Peter Fritzenwallner.
DISCLAIMER: HOUSE OF CONSTRUCTS is hosting the act-drawing class featuring Peter Fritzenwallner today. In this context, Peter Fritzenwallner will be posing nude as a model. Visitors under the age of 14 may only attend the exhibition if accompanied by a guardian. Visitors who might find the sight of a naked man offensive or disturbing are advised to avoid the life drawing class.

Day 6
Mon, 17 June 2024
MUSEUM OF REFLECTION
Two performers engage in an ongoing listing of things that worked and things that didn’t work throughout the history of mankind.
A collaboration with Pierluca Coiro & Anna Mendelssohn.

Day 7
Tue, 18 June 2024
MUSEUM OF RESONANCE
A drum set is divided into all its parts. Seven drummers are invited to each play one of the elements simultaneously throughout the opening hours of the exhibition.
A collaboration with Stefan Frankenberger.

Day 8
Wed, 19 June 2024
MUSEUM OF PRODUCTION
The office staff of Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien move their workplace to the main exhibition space for the day.

Day 9
Thu, 20 June 2024
MUSEUM OF CHOREOGRAPHY
All the institution’s technicians will join in an all-day work-in-progress to create a choreographed performance.
A collaboration with Karin Pauer.
With: Fabio Balestra, Ingrid Brunecová, Remo Cocco, Thomas Gallhuber, Jonas Nielsen.

Day 10
Fri, 21 June 2024
MUSEUM OF ARCHITECTURE
Italians living in Vienna are invited to meet and socialize on a square podium in the main exhibition room from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm, recreating the social architecture of a forum.

Day 11
Sat, 22 June 2024
MUSEUM OF EXPOSURE
A spontaneous performance takes place throughout the day by people dancing and singing along to their favourite playlists.

Day 12
Sun, 23 June 2024
MUSEUM OF PREPARATION
Various conferences are continuously organized and re-organized throughout the day.
A collaboration with Carolina Cappelli.

Day 13
Mon, 24 June 2024
MUSEUM OF CONTEXT
A performance takes place throughout the day in which the museum guards engage in conversations with visitors. At 6:00 pm there will be a book presentation of the artist’s latest publication “the upside down museum”.
A collaboration with the daily newspaper Kurier.

DAY 14
Tue, 25 June 2024
MUSEUM OF MUSEUMS
A workshop is organized with children aged 6 to 10 years. After showing them the entire infrastructure of the institution, they are encouraged to draw imaginary alternative museums. The outcome is displayed in the main hall for the rest of the day, officially making it the children’s first exhibition.
A collaboration with Soho in Ottakring.
Registration necessary: vermittlung@kunstforumwien.at
Free admission for children
Reduced admission for accompanying person: EUR 6.-
Workshop from 2:30 to 4:30 pm

Day 15
Wednesday, 26 June 2024
MUSEUM OF DIALOGUE
A situation is set up where visitors find themselves in conversations about labour.
A collaboration with Anna Nowak & Anna Mendelssohn.

Day 16
Thu, 27 June 2024
MUSEUM OF FEEDBACK
A film crew produces a documentary all day at the exhibition, asking visitors about their relationship to art.The outcome is screened at 8:00 pm.
A collaboration with Viktor Schaider.

Day 17
Fri, 28 June 2024
MUSEUM OF SURPRISES
This day is kept free for last-minute ideas.

Day 18
Sat, 29 June 2024
MUSEUM OF DECONSTRUCTION
Artists and technical staff gather to dismantle parts of the exhibition and to prepare the main hall for the final intervention.

Day 19
Sun, 30 June 2024
MUSEUM OF TOGETHERNESS
“This is where we draw the line” – a performance developed by Karin Pauer and Aldo Giannotti in 2019 – concludes the exhibition. 
Performance at 7:00 pm
A collaboration with Arttu Palmio & Paolo Monti/the starpillow.