Art as part of the ensemble

BIG ART develops artistic interventions for construction projects belonging to the Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft (BIG) in dialogue with artists, architects and the users themselves. These interventions aim to enhance places where young people in particular study, work, learn or generally spend a lot of time. The art is incorporated in the construction process as early on as possible, meaning that it evolves with the architecture as it is created, reacts to the location and function of the building in question, and becomes a part of an ensemble.

BIG awards its Kunst & Bau projects through invited competitions. In addition to the Kunst & Bau projects, BIG ART facilitates temporary art interventions in urban spaces, on construction site fences or scaffolding nets, in temporarily vacant buildings, in open spaces or on façades.

BIG ART also manages the extensive art portfolio that BIG adopted from the Republic of Austria in conjunction with the buildings. This portfolio includes numerous “art for architecture” works, most of which date back to the second half of the 20th century, as well as works and designs from the Baroque, Gothic, Historicist, Domestic Revival, interwar and Classical Modernist periods. All in all, there are thousands of works of art and artefacts of historical interest in BIG buildings throughout Austria.

Team

Every year, the BIG ART team organises one to three (depending on the construction volume) Kunst & Bau competitions, supervises the winning projects during the realisation process, and mediates between artists and construction management.

BIG ART advisory board

The BIG ART advisory board was established in 2005 with the purpose of advising BIG on its artistic activities and ensuring that its engagement is of consistently high quality. The advisory board advises BIG on project selection, nominates artists for the competitions and serves as the basic selection committee for the Kunst & Bau competitions.

Members:

  • Marie-Therese Harnoncourt-Fuchs, architect
  • Katrin Hornek, artist
  • Claudia Märzendorfer, artist
  • Cornelia Offergeld (chairwoman), art historian and curator
  • Manfred Wakolbinger, artist

Former members:

  • Klaus-Jürgen Bauer, architect
  • Katharina Blaas, art historian and curator
  • Gregor Eichinger, architect
  • Eva Schlegel, artist
  • Nicole Six, artist