Dilapidated concrete lectern as art in public space with people at Landhausplatz Innsbruck

Public Lectern

Best Before

The installation Best Before is essentially made up of two synergistic parts: a concrete lectern that is more open to interpretation and rundown, on which the traces of an eventful history are visible, and a glass panel that stands out from it through its materiality and aesthetics and textually links the sculpture with socio-political themes:

[Translation from German] "The increase in market economy liberalism with a simultaneous dismantling of welfare state protection systems increases economic polarisation, promotes the concentration of power and thus makes democratic participation more difficult."

Thererby Best Before appears on several levels: As an interactive installation that allows the viewer to playfully slip into a fictional representative role, as a dystopian historic relict from a bygone democratic era and as a commentary on the relationship between the economy and the state.

Techniques: concrete, laminated safety glass with digitally printed text, posters, spray paint
Weight: ~ 650 kg
Year: 2019

Funded by: Land Tirol
Selected by: TKI Tiroler Kultur-Initiativen

Thank you:
Eisen Blasy • Tiroler Glasmalerei • Kevin Brown • Elisabeth Medicus • Myriam Kraml • medien.kunst.tirol • David Prieth • Helene Schnitzer • Walter Stackler

Download: german accompanying text (pdf)
Availability:

Dilapidated concrete lectern as art in public space at Landhausplatz Innsbruck
panel discussion
↑ Foto by David Prieth
The opening of Best Before was accompanied by a panel discussion on democracy discourses in the context of contemporary art with penalists Yvonne Gimpel (political scientist, managing director of IG Kultur, previously working for UNESCO for 8 years) Christoph Hinterhuber (media artist) and Michael Wimmer (political and cultural scientist). The event was moderated by Martin Fritz and organized by David Prieth as well as Medienkunst Tirol and took place at BRUX Freies Theater Innsbruck.
Dilapidated concrete lectern as art in public space in the court yard of Landhaus Innsbruck
↑ Due to in-transparent administrative issues Best Before had to be moved after only three days from the Landhausplatz Innsbruck – which is the square in front of the government building – to the court yard of the same building. Thereby the piece has found it’s way to the political heart of the federal province and was facing the Tyrolean Landtag in the second floor but – being swallowed by the government building – it was a lot more hidden from the public.
The incomprehensible permission process by the administration was taken up by two lokal newspapers and a local magazine:
- Tiroler Tageszeitung
- Mein Bezirk
- UND Heft
↑ The incident also lead to a comment about public art by two interest representatives for Art in Tirol. (Ingeborg Erhart from Tiroler Künstler:innenschaft and Helene Schnitzer from TKI). The text was presented on the Best Before sculpture by actor Michaela Senn.
Poster designs for dilapidated concrete lectern as art in public space Dilapidated concrete lectern as art in public space at Waltherpark Innsbruck
Dilapidated concrete lectern as art in public space at Waltherpark Innsbruck with barrier tape
↑ Best Before during Corona Quarantine – Waltherpark, Innsbruck
Dilapidated concrete lectern as art in public space at Tivoli Roundabout Innsbruck
↑ Best Before at Tivoli Roundabout, Innsbruck
Dilapidated concrete lectern as art in public space with children at Landhausplatz Innsbruck Dilapidated concrete lectern in a scaffolding structure as art in public space glass panel with accompanying text for filapidated concrete lectern as art in public space Dilapidated concrete lectern as art in public space with person at Landhausplatz Innsbruck detail of dilapidated concrete lectern as art in public space Dilapidated concrete lectern as art in public space during delivery at Landhausplatz Innsbruck