REFERENCES

Sculptures in the park

Halbturn Castle

2015 - 2019

In 2015, together with Dr. Silvie Aigner (editor-in-chief of Parnass) and the castle owner Count Markus zu Koenigsegg-Aulendorf, I initiated and conceived the SKUPTURENPARK Halbturn in the park of Halbturn Castle on Lake Neusiedl, featuring works by the artists Daniel Bucur, Johann Feilacher, Thomas Gänszler, Franz Gyolcs, Julie Hayward, Talos Kedl, Max M. Seibald, Kurt Spitaler, and Siegfried Charoux.

A wonderful exhibition area was created in the park with its baroque trees, where 20 large sculptures by 9 artists stood.
Our idea was that the 50,000 annual visitors to Halbturn Castle could enjoy these wonderful sculptures in a relaxed and free manner while strolling through the castle park.

At that time, I also had a business relationship with Halbturn Castle: I ran my gallery "Antiques & Wine", a shop for art and antiques. Simultaneously, I was responsible for the sale of the fantastic red wine from the Halbturn Castle winery.

Sculptures in the Park offered a comprehensive overview of established and emerging artistic positions, showcasing new trends in sculpture. Visitors had the opportunity to experience the sculptures while strolling through the expansive park. The Baroque palace and its history were perceived from a fresh perspective in conjunction with contemporary art. Sculptures in the Park added another interesting element to the comprehensive and diverse program of events in Halbturn, which includes exhibitions, concerts, and Lipizzaner horse performances.

Sculptures by the following artists were on display: Daniel Bucur, Johann Feilacher, Thomas Gänszler, Franz Gyolcs, Julie Hayward, Talos Kedl, Max M. Seibald, Kurt Spitaler, and Siegfried Charoux. These sculptures combined the unique ambiance of the Baroque palace with contemporary object art and invited visitors to an art walk through the palace gardens, where art and nature complemented each other in a special way.

The history of sculpture at Halbturn Castle in Burgenland is embedded in the region's post-1945 art history, in which sculpture played a special and important role. As early as the 1950s, the two Burgenland-born artists Karl Prantl and Rudolf Kedl began working outdoors in the orangery and the castle park of Eisenstadt, thus liberating sculptures from their museum context. Both the creative process and the reception of sculpture were redefined. In 1959, Karl Prantl, together with like-minded individuals, founded the "Symposium of European Sculptors in St. Margarethen," which achieved worldwide success and spawned further initiatives in Austria and internationally. Other artists also discovered Burgenland, and Neumarkt an der Raab in southern Burgenland became a popular artists' colony. One of the most outstanding artists of the Neumarkt circle was the sculptor Walter Pichler. Born in Deutschnofen, South Tyrol, he came to Neumarkt an der Raab after achieving international success and settled in the immediately adjacent village of St. Martin. This became the center of his subsequent work. He often invested several years in his art, for which he built dedicated spaces and structures. Also worth mentioning here is Franz Gyolcs' unique art project near Halbturn: "The Bridge of Andau." About 10 kilometers from Andau, a narrow wooden bridge spanned the Einser Canal. During the interwar period and after World War II, it served as a means of escape for Hungarians to reach Hungary. Even during the early stages of the Hungarian Uprising in 1956, Hungarians crossed the border via this route. In 1992, the association "Society for International Understanding – The Bridge of Andau" was founded. From 1992 to 1996, the association held international artists' symposia in Andau. The sculptures created during these symposia were installed along the former escape route from Andau to the Einser Canal. The 10 km long road was transformed into a unique walkable and drivable sculpture gallery as a visible symbol of the "rejection of violence, intolerance and inhumanity, contempt for humanity and racism."