Das vollständige Interview auf Englisch.
Die Presse: How did you manage to overview the artscene of a whole city?
Olga Sviblova: It would have been impossible to view more than one hundred portfolios and dozens of artists' studios and galleries without outstanding organisational work from the Vienna Kunsthalle's team of professionals, who assisted us throughout. Fatigue was not a problem although we were looking at portfolios and talking with the artists or holding our own discussions from early morning to late at night - the art and the people we met gave us a rush of energy.
What makes the Viennese Art Scene special?
Vienna artists are an organic part of the global artistic context with strong emphasis on the resolution of plastic form. Possibly this is the result of an intense concentration of art museums and colleges in Vienna. The rich exhibition programmes presented by various Viennese museums are a unique phenomenon. On average I visit Vienna several times a year. For me these exhibitions in Vienna museums, and especially the Kunsthalle, are a powerful inspiration and source of reflection on the development of 20th-century art and new tendencies for the future.
What divides the Viennese Art Scene from the Russian?
You could say the Vienna art scene is particularly extensive. The number of artists we managed to see in Vienna is greater than the Moscow art scene in its entirety. A unique component of the Vienna scene is the accent on drawing as the most intimate and personal means of artistic expression. This aspect was most interesting to me. Generally speaking the Vienna art scene concentrates on issues of existential and plastic art. The social orientation of their projects assumes a more global character. Work by these artists is not on the whole concerned with the political or social situation in Austria and Vienna.
As for the Moscow art scene, here the paradigm of Russian Conceptualism is of prime importance. Many projects relate to social questions and refer to recent Russian history. This is linked to the Russian need for a new identity after the fall of the USSR in 1991. The reflection that began in the Russian underground from the 1970s onwards is not over yet.
What was the biggest surprise of your survey?
I was surprised that contemporary Viennese artists take almost no interest in Viennese Actionism, which is a very important and specific movement in 20th-century Austrian art as far as we are concerned. I was struck by the plastic freedom of artworks created from very diverse materials and the vibrancy of artistic life in Vienna, which is devoid of the aggression that features strongly in Moscow and Berlin art right now. My own feeling is that the art scene in Vienna is less radical in both the formulation and resolution of artistic problems than in Moscow or Berlin.
How did the three of you come to your decisions?
We acted as a collective, and this provided an unusual and gratifying occurrence when the views of three specialists previously unacquainted (from Russia, Greece and the USA) and the working group from the Kunsthalle practically coincided. There was a good consensus of opinion between us. We all had the right of veto, but there was no need of it since we were able to agree on everything. We wanted the exhibition to be varied in both concept and form, and therefore chose those works that seemed particularly fresh and striking.
Who are your favourite artists in the exhibition?
I never reply to questions like that. In my role as museum director and curator of numerous exhibitions I work with all kinds of artists. I like artworks by diverse authors. Like the mother of a large family, I can't answer questions about which child I love most.
Can you tell something about the new museum you plan in Moscow?
At the end of June this year we are opening the new Multimedia Art Museum building at the same place the Moscow House of Photography first appeared in 1996. The first exhibition is a retrospective of work by Annette Messager. The building covers an area of 8500 square metres and comprises some 3000 exhibition spaces where we can present photographs, cutting-edge art and various media installations.
I think one of the most important results of our trip to Vienna was the selection of artists living and working in Vienna for future presentation in Moscow. I am very grateful to the Kunsthalle for giving me the opportunity to meet not only the authors we chose for the exhibition, but also those who participated in past exhibitions. For example the Gelatin group, who took part in the project 'I Live and Work in Vienna' in previous years. We have included this group and several other artists in our plan for future events at the Multimedia Art Museum.