Catalogue > Un extrait vidéo au hasard

Kay Walkowiak

Minimal Vandalism

Video | hdv | couleur | 3:49 | Autriche | 2013

Touching art objects in an exhibition space is usually not allowed. Not so in Kay Walkowiak´s Minimal Vandalism, where this prohibition is practically stomped on. The setting, the Generali Foundation in Vienna is the epitome of a modernist exhibition building, which—as neutral White Cube-like shell—is meant to intervene as little as possible in the act of viewing art.. Well, other than the tube-like enfilade with the massive concrete wall running down the middle along which a parcours of minimalist sculptures is set up in Minimal Vandalism. And it truly is a parcours, as after a brief exposition, in which the jerky camera movements already lead us to suspect that something’s up, an entirely unexpected performance unfolds. In one of the few calm takes, a surveillance camera soon becomes visible and the show begins: a skateboarder (Kilian Martin) coming from the depths of the room makes his approach on three boards piled on top of one another, to subject the sculptures to a test of endurance, or skill. The “performer” relentlessly includes the objects in his acrobatics, regardless of the fact that they are art, gliding up onto them, sliding across their surfaces, and daringly jumping over them.

*1980 in Salzburg, lives and works in Vienna. Several Grants and awards; e.g. Artist in Residence Grant Banff(2014), Beijing(2013), Varansi (2013), Theodor Körner Preis (2010), Otto Prutscher award (2008), Fred Adlmüller scholarship (2006). He studied philosophy and psychology at the University of Vienna, photography and video art at the Academy of fine Arts, Vienna and art & communication and sculture & multimedia art at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna.