July 5, – September 4, 2008




Thomas Hirschhorn

"Das Auge" ("The Eye") is the title of my exhibition in the Secession. "Das Auge" has nothing to do with Georges Bataille – who I admire greatly. As an artist, I want to make a work that in no ways bows down to historical facts. With "Das Auge" I want to give form to this resistance against a form. I want to produce a work that does not bow down to facts and that resists historical facts. And I want to create a universal truth with this form.

"Das Auge" resists facts, it resists by seeing – by only seeing. The exhibition, the work "Das Auge" is intended as a postulate. A postulate is an assertion given form. The form of this postulate – "Das Auge" – consists in the fact that "Das Auge" sees but "Das Auge" does not understand. And no one else is expected to understand "Das Auge", no one has to be in agreement with the "Das Auge", and no one has to enter into contact with "Das Auge". "Das Auge" sees, "Das Auge" shows, "Das Auge" names, and "Das Auge" 'is'. "Das Auge" sees and is present, it sees and is thereby present and it is present because it sees.


With "Das Auge" I want to create the conditions for a dialog or confrontation – in whatever way; that is the assertion – and I want to do this with this work. I want to do it by "Das Auge" 'only' seeing. For 'only' seeing facilitates the opening. Opening up for the other, opening up in order to become implicated in the work. "Das Auge" 'only' sees, and it therefore remains autonomous. And "Das Auge" insists on seeing without understanding.


"Das Auge" does not see everything – but it sees everything that is red. "Das Auge" only sees the color red. Thus it can only show red, it can only name red, and it can only 'be' red. The red – that "Das Auge" sees – is the blood of those wounded and killed by war and terror, the red is the blood of slaughtered baby seals, the red is the red of models protesting against the wearing of fur coats, the red is the red of branching capillaries, the red is the red of national coats of arms that use the color red, and the red is the red of cardboard hearts, the red is simply just the color 'red'.

The color red creates the connection and the point of reference – beyond understanding – and beyond information, beyond opinions, and beyond comment.

"Das Auge" refuses to see, to show, to name, and to be anything else but "Das Auge".

March 2008


Artist talk: Boris Ondreicka with Thomas Hirschhorn
Friday, July 4, 2008, 6 p.m.
An event by the Friends of the Secession


THOMAS HIRSCHHORN, born 1957 in Bern, lives and works in Paris.

SOLO SHOWS (Selection): 2008 Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico; 2007 Jumbo Spoons & Big Cake, Musée d’art contemporain, Montreal; Arndt & Partner, Berlin; Stephen Friedman Gallery, London; Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris; 2006 Kestnergesellschaft, Hanover; CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco; Gladstone Gallery, New York; 2005 Museu Serralves, Porto; Institut of Contemporary Art, Boston; Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; 2004 Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris; 24h Foucault, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, in the context of the “Nuit Blanche”; Musée Précaire Albinet, Cité Albinet, (in cooperation with Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers), Aubervilliers.

GROUP SHOWS (Selection): 2008 Carried Away - Procession in Art, Museum of Modern Art Arnhem; Peripherer Blick und kollektiver Körper, Museion, Bozen, Collage: The UnMonumental Picture, New Museum, New York; 2007 Peripherer Blick und kollektiver Körper, Museion, Bozen; Heart of Darkness, Walkert Art Center, Minneapolis; The Unhomely, Phantom Scenes in Global Society, Seconde Biennale Internationale d’Art Contemporain, Biacs 2, Seville; How to Live Together, 27ème Biennale de São Paulo; Into me / Out of Me, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; Swiss Made+2, Präzision und Wahnsinn, Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg; Volksgarten, Die Politik der Zugehörigkeit, Kunsthaus Graz; 2005 Dionysiac, Centre Pompidou, Paris; Monuments for the USA, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco; Material Time / Work Time / Life Time /, Reykjavik Arts Festival, Living Art Museum, Reykjavik; Drawing from the Modern 1975 – 2005, Museum of Modern Art, New York; Hayward Gallery, London; Universal experience. Art, Life, and the Tourist’s Eye, MCA, Chicago; 2004 La bellesa del fracàs / El fracàs de la bellesa, Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona; 2003 GNS, Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Gesellschaftsbilder, Images of Society, Kunstmuseum, Thun; Accessoiremaximalismus, Kunsthalle, Kiel; Common Wealth, Tate Modern, London; 2002 Basics, Kunsthalle Bern; Documenta 11, Kassel.


Installation shots: Pez Hejduk

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