FUNF * RAUME at ACFNY

Valentin Ruhry, Untitled (Hello World), 2011

Currently on view at the Austrian Cultural Forum, is Funf Raume, curated by David Harper (former Curatorial Fellow for Art Fag City and Curator of visual art @BAM) and Andreas Stadler, Director of the ACFNY. The show features the work of six artists in five rooms (two being a collaborative duo). Everything is presented in both an obvious and conceptual format therefore appealing to a trained and untrained eye. All of the work was made to be installed site specific and within this approach, occupies and intrudes upon the chosen/assigned space. Each artist has made an environment that upon initial viewing may appear haphazard but is in fact purposeful in the intention of exploration and visual authority, as it conforms to a specific area.

Valentin Ruhry, Adaption, 2011Funf Raume, (German for “Five Rooms”), is itself an oasis in minimalism and deconstructivism nestled on 52nd Street. My personal favorites, shown in the two images above, are by Austrian artist Valentin Ruhry. Initially, Valentin was sent an interior image of the gallery with clean (i.e. Photoshopped) white walls. Upon his arrival to New York from Vienna, he immediately recognized the dominant presence of power outlets on the right side wall. His response to this interior dilemma, was to mimic the outlets, by mirroring the exact placement and stylization of each socket also following the not exact, parallel layout. The result (while difficult to photograph) is shown above, being both unexpected and a delight to discover.