{"id":63042,"date":"2023-08-28T04:38:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T03:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=63042"},"modified":"2025-09-01T10:35:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T09:35:50","slug":"renate-bertlmann-retrospective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/belvedere-sites\/renate-bertlmann-retrospective\/","title":{"rendered":"Renate Bertlmann exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/bertlmannsmall1.jpg\" alt=\"Exhibition poster in the window\" class=\"wp-image-64273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/bertlmannsmall1.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/bertlmannsmall1-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>A remarkable presentation at the Venice Biennale brought Renate Bertlmann to more international attention. One of the leaders of the Austrian (feminist) avant-garde has a long record of outstanding art: see for yourself at the Belvedere 21 retrospective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Over 200 exhibits from the late 60s onwards<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Enjoy Bertlmann&#8217;s often radical &amp; &#8220;provocative&#8221; works<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Runs Sept 29, 2023 &#8211; Mar 3, 2024<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See also:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/belvedere-sites\/belvedere-21\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"12893\">Belvedere 21 overview<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/entertainment\/events\/exhibitions\/#modernart\">Contemporary art exhibitions<\/a> in Vienna<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fragile Obsessions<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"314\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/bertlmann1.jpg\" alt=\"Knife-Pacifier-Hands by Renate Bertlmann\" class=\"wp-image-63029\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/bertlmann1.jpg 314w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/bertlmann1-209x300.jpg 209w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 314px) 100vw, 314px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Renate Bertlmann, Knife-Pacifier-Hands &#8211; Ambivalences 1, 1981; \u00a9 Renate Bertlmann\/ Bildrecht, Vienna 2022; courtesy Gallery Richard Saltoun, London)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m feeling my way slowly through modern and contemporary art, as if wearing sunglasses in an unlit room with the blinds down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The slow trickle of growing knowledge includes a few names that seem to appear regularly in exhibitions and the press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Names that carry a sense of purpose and weight to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like Alex Katz, Georg Baselitz, VALIE EXPORT\u2026and Renate Bertlmann. Belvedere 21 honours the latter&#8217;s work, achievements, voice (and 80th birthday earlier in 2023) with a major retrospective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My first live experience with Bertlmann&#8217;s works was her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/belvedere-sites\/bertlmann-exhibition\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"23113\">contribution<\/a> to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/belvedere-sites\/carlone-contemporary\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"57612\">Carlone Contemporary<\/a> series, drawing on her presentation for the 2019 Venice Biennale. The bed of glass rose stems with knives emerging from the flower heads left a lasting impression.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/bertlmann4.jpg\" alt=\"View of the interior of the 2023 Bertlmann exhibition\" class=\"wp-image-64241\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/bertlmann4.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/bertlmann4-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Exhibition view of <em>Renate Bertlmann. Fragile Obsessions<\/em>; press photo by Johannes Stoll \/ Belvedere, Wien \u00a9 Bildrecht, Wien 2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the forefront of Austrian feminist avant-garde, Bertlmann&#8217;s work often includes the kind of ambivalences seen in the Biennale piece, alongside a sense of humour, satire and irony; works that address (patriarchal) power structures, for example, or gender roles and relations&#8230;chipping away at stereotypes and preconceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Provocative is also a word commonly associated with Bertlmann&#8217;s art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When London&#8217;s Tate Modern offered an international take on the pop art of the 60s and 70s, for example, they included Bertlmann&#8217;s <em>Exhibitionism<\/em> three-piece; this was once deemed too contentious for even a feminist exhibition in 1975 Vienna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The artist herself has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.collectorsagenda.com\/en\/in-the-studio\/renate-bertlmann\">noted<\/a>, however:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Provocation isn&#8217;t important to me at all. I simply want to express what moves me, what hurts me, what drives me, this is what I want to express and to do so uncompromisingly, this is in itself provocative.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"348\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/bertlmann2.jpg\" alt=\"Wheelchair Type Easy Rider by Renate Bertlmann\" class=\"wp-image-63030\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/bertlmann2.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/bertlmann2-300x209.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Renate Bertlmann, Wheelchair Type Easy Rider, 1975; \u00a9 Renate Bertlmann \/ Bildrecht, Vienna 2022; courtesy: Sammlung Koschier, Vienna)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anything that points to an undesirable status quo inevitably attracts the provocative label. After all, men and the truth about society &amp; gender, in particular, are not always comfortable in each other&#8217;s company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The exhibition covers an artistic chronology that begins in 1968 and continues through to 2023, with a wide spectrum of works: from those on public view for the first time to others that have long achieved iconic status, especially where tackling issues around gender-related themes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 200 or so exhibits also reflect Bertlmann&#8217;s often radical and pioneering use of various media: installations, drawings, sculptures, performance art, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wandering around, I was certainly struck by that variety, from pink perspex to black &amp; white stills. Though various objects and motifs make regular appearances throughout the chronology: knives, breasts, pacifiers and penises.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"297\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/bertlmann3.jpg\" alt=\"Diverse Farphalle Impudiche by Renate Bertlmann\" class=\"wp-image-63031\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/bertlmann3.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/bertlmann3-300x178.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Renate Bertlmann, Diverse Farphalle Impudiche, 1983; \u00a9 Elfriede Mejchar; courtesy: Renate Bertlmann)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The humour in many works becomes equally apparent, albeit underpinned by implicit commentary (or possibly the other way around). Art perhaps created with a wink, closely followed by a serious and challenging glance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Equally, just as you might be seduced into wry amusement, a closer look (or the next piece) jolts you into deeper thought, perhaps teasing at a taboo or taking you out of your comfort zone&#8230;and thereby inviting you to question why that zone ends where it does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I even felt a pang of sadness at items where Bertlmann addresses existence and transience. At 1980&#8217;s <em>Desire Waning<\/em>, for example, where a series of transparent cylinders contain progressively less and less glitter. Simple but effective as it might say on the side of the packet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In total&#8230;amusing, moving, discomforting and impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"tickets\">Dates, tickets &amp; tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Enjoy the journey through Bertlmann&#8217;s oeuvre from September 29th, 2023 to March 3rd, 2024. An entrance ticket for or from Belvedere 21 includes the exhibitions within.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re in Vienna outside the exhibition dates, you can find Bertlmann&#8217;s works elsewhere in the Belvedere institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Amo Ergo Sum<\/em> in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/belvedere-sites\/kammergarten-privy-garden\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"3333\">Kammergarten<\/a> is part of a wider outdoor show of sculptures and installations that ends on October 1st, 2023<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>At least one work normally hangs in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/belvedere-sites\/biedermeier-to-interwar\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"13632\">avant-garde section<\/a> of the permanent exhibition at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/belvedere-sites\/upper-belvedere-palace\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"3521\">Upper Belvedere<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I believe a work by Bertlmann also appears in the <em>Being Mortal<\/em> exhibition that ends August 25th, 2024 at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/dom-museum\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"5640\">Dom Museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to get there<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Follow the travel tips at the bottom of the main <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/belvedere-sites\/belvedere-21\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"12893\">Belvedere 21 article<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Address: Quartier Belvedere, Arsenalstra\u00dfe 1, 1030 Vienna<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/u\/0\/embed?mid=1ksawXWFMVD9bljA48Gi7_VvWSfI\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A major retrospective at Belvedere 21 for one of the most influential contemporary Austrian artists<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64273,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-63042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-belvedere-sites","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63042"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85487,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63042\/revisions\/85487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}