Preoccupied by representations of place, power and identity in public space.
Andreas Fogarasi's work comments the dissimulated way by which the State defines and regulates behaviour within its borders. His critical process imposes a discourse that peels away the layers of convention and pre-conceived ideas that surround his subject, at which point he can then re-build, re-assemble, associate and repeat, to a point where his minimalist works quietly question our surroundings and behavioural patterns, leading us to the inevitable question of civil liberties. Through his work, Andreas Fogarasi observes the city and its codes of representation. His projects are witness of the interest he has in the collective and utopic dimension of architecture, and its sometimes authoritarian characteristics. He also comments the appropriation of these areas and symbols by the people. It is a critical look at modernism and politics of the masses.

Born in Austria in 1977, Andreas Fogarasi lives and works in Vienna. After studying architecture, he decided to further his studies at the Fine Art School in Vienna fallowing a residency at the Pavillon, Palais de Tokyo during 2002-2003. He participated at Manifesta in Frankfurt in 2002, then went on to win the Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennale in 2007 for the best National Representation with his project Kultur und Freizeit in the Hungarian Pavillon.

Andreas Fogarasi
Born in 1977 in Vienna
Lives and works in Vienna


EDUCATION
2002-2003
Le pavillon, Palais de Tokyo, Paris

1999-2003
Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna

1997-1999
Freie Klasse, Vienna

1995-1999
Studies of architecture, University of Applied Arts, Vienna


SOLO SHOWS
2019
Vasarely go home, Galerie Florence Loewy, Paris

Nine Buildings Stripped, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna

2018
Kettö / Two, Vintage Galéria, Budapest, Hungary
Production, FL Gallery, Milano, Italy
Monuments offerts, Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, Paris, France

2017
Culture and free time, OFF-Biennale, Budapest, Hongria
Andreas Fogarasi - Copy, Kunstbuero Gallery, Vienna, Austria
Andreas Fogarasi, Plan, Bratislava City Gallery (upcoming)
Exhibition/s, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna

2016
Modelle, Jesuitenfoyer, Vienna
Sculpture, Proyectos Monclova, Mexico City
Book Launch, LAMOA, Los Angeles

2015
Installation, Tranzit, Iasi
Photography, Amt_Projects, Bratislava
Tracks and Traces, City Museum, Belgrade (with Sasa Tkacenko)
Video, Galeria Casado Santapau, Madrid

2014
Vasarely Go Home, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich
Black Earth, MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles (with Oscar Tuazon)
Vasarely Go Home, GFZK - Museum of Contemporary Art, Leipzig
988, Galeria Vermelho, Sao Paulo

2013
Année Le Nôtre, Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, Paris
Kiosk (Buda), Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Kiosk (Buda), Park Galeria, Budapest

2012
2018, Prefix ICA, Toronto
Vasarely Go Home, Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, Bordeaux
Vasarely Go Home, Trafo, Budapest
Épitészet / Architecture, Liget Galeria, Budapest
Headlines and Small Print, Galerija  Nova,  Zagreb (with Maryam Jafri)
180°, Neuer Kunstverein Vienna (with Mladen Bizumic)

2011
The Armory Show, Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, New York
La ciudad de color / Vasarely go home, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid
Construir / Desmontar, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, Sevilla

2010
1998, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen
Georgetown, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna

2009
Figure Ground, Transit, Mechelen

2008
Információ, Ernst Múzeum, Budapest
Support Surface, Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, Bordeaux
Fairview, Lombard-Freid Projects, New York
2008, MAK Gallery, Vienna
Kultur und Freizeit, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz

2007
Kultur und Freizeit, Pavillon Hongrois, Biennale di Venezia 52, Venice

2006
Norden, Georg Kargl Box, Vienna

2005
Westen (aka Osten), Grazer Kunstverein, Graz
Süden, Porschehof/Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg

2004
A ist der Name für ein Modell /Étrangement proche, Liget Galéria, Budapest

2003
ABCity (The Player), Trafó, Budapest
Welcome to Regions, Display Gallery, Prague
A ist der Name für ein Modell / Étrangement proche, Offspace, Vienna

2002
Kultúrapark, Stúdió Galéria, Budapest
Culture Park, 5020 gallery, Salzburg

1999
Modell ambient, Transit VZW, Mechelen<br

GROUP SHOWS

2019

Masterpieces, Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico

Iparterv 50+, Ludwig Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest, Hungary

2018
Patron, Studio Gallery - Studio of Young Artists Association, Budapest, Hungary
Dialogue, Galerie Georg Kargl, Wien, Austria
Kunstporzellankunst, Dorotheum, Wien, Austria
Studio 18 - Szalon, Erasing the Past Forever, Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary
st Eros der eben jetzt von mir beobachtete Planet? L40, Verein zur Förderung von Kunst und Kultur am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin, Germany
In die Stadt, Museum Moderner Kunst Kärnten, Klagenfurt, Austria
Wanderings, Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, Lisbonne, Portugal
Universe of relations, Zarya center for Contemporary Art,Vladivostok, Russia
Ver as vozes dos artistas : seeing artists voices, metro, Porto, Portugal
ist Eros der eben Jetzt von mir beobachtete planet ? Gottlob frege, Ludwig Wittgenstein und ((logische struktur der welt, Kunstraum pro arte, Hallein, Austria

2017
Wanderings, Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, Lisboa, Portgual
Economize! On the Relationship of Art and Economy - Musée Ludwig - Musée d'art contemporain - Budapest, Hongrie
Mülheim/Ruhr und die 1970er-Jahre, Kunstmuseum Mülheim an der Ruhr, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Allemagne
Ist Eros der eben jetzt von mir beobachtete Planet?, Goldbergkunst e.V., Goldberg,  Allemagne
Témpano - El problema de lo institucional, Museum of Contemporary Art of Montevideo, Uruguay
Traces of Time, Leopold Museum, Vienne, Austriche
Abtsract Hungary, Halle für Kunst & Medien, Graz, Autriche
Wiener Art Foundation goes Athens, Athènes, Grèce
10 years old, Fondazione Fotografia Modena, Modena
"Save As..." ? What Will Remain of New Media Art?, Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest

2016
The Errors of Beauty, National Gallery, Sofia
The Past is the Past, Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, Paris
Borders of the Gesture, HGB Galerie, Leipzig
ART CAPITAL 2016, Wasted Time, MuvészetMalom, Szentendre
The language of things, 21er Haus, Vienne
Cartography of Artist Solidarity - Narratives and Ghosts from the International Art Exhibition for Palestine, 1978, Tranzit.Hu, Budapest

2015
Wohin gehen wir' videokunst zur stadtgesellschaft, Motorenhalle, Projektzentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Dresde
Inside Out - Not So White Cube, Mestna Galerija, Ljubljana
Nadezhda - The Hope Principle, 6e Moscow Biennale, Moscou
Transparency, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienne
Destination Vienna, Kunsthalle Vienne
Sector 17, Galerie Martin Janda, Vienne
El Presente en el Pasado, Centro Andaluz Arte Contemporáneo, Séville
Close-Up, etc. Galerie, Prague
24/7 - The Human Condition / Vienna Biennale, MAK, Vienne
Der Raum nach dem Raum, Kunsthaus muerz, Murzzuschlag

2014
Frisch eingetroffen. Neuankäufe Fotografie, Landesgalerie Linz des OÖ. Landesmuseums, Linz
Interieurs, Landesgalerie Linz des OÖ. Landesmuseums, Linz
Turning points, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
I know not to know, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienne
El Teatro Del Mundo / The Theater of the World, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City
Urbane Perspektiven - Dark City, Schafhof, Europäisches Künstlerhaus Oberbayern, Freising
Report on the Construction of a Spaceship Module, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
Texte In der Kunst, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienne

2013
Word + Work, Galerie Nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienne
Modern Architecture Works, Vivacom Arthall, Sofia
Conceptualism Today - Conceptual Art in Hungary since the beginning of the 1990s, Paksi Képtár, Paks
Die Sammlung 2 / The Collection 2, 21er Haus, Vienne
De belles sculptures contemporaines - la collection du Frac des Pays de la Loire, Hab Galerie, Nantes
Eastern Promises, MAK, Vienne
Jetztzeit (Present time) + The Angel's Back, La Panera, Lleida
Cinematic Scope, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienne

2012
Bleibender Wert? / Enduring Value?, Kunsthaus Bregenz
State of Affairs, amt - project, Bratislava
Gallery by Night, Stúdió Galéria, Budapest
Montag ist erst übermorgen, Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienne
Demnächst, Galerie 5020, Salzburg
Die Sammlung / The Collection, 21er Haus, Vienne
Headlines and Small Print, Andreas Fogarasi & Maryam Jafri , Galerija Nova, Zagreb
ça & là, this & there, Fondation d'entreprise Ricard, et hors les murs, celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Pavillon Neuflize OBC,      
Laboratory  for Creation of Palais de Tokyo, Paris

2011
Where is my Place? Contemporary images on national identity, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena
Shift and Flow, Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs, New York
Public Folklore, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz
alter///scrinium - Ten Theses of Architecture, 9ème Festival International du film, Vladivostok
In Between, Austria Contemporary, CAC, Vilnius
MONUMENT VALLEY (Jaegerspris revisited / a homage to Johannes Wiedewelt), UFO, Berlin
Envisioning buildings, Reflecting Architecture in Contemporary Art Photography, MAK, Vienne
Passion of the Ornithologist. Topographies of Myth, BWA SOKÓL Gallery, Nowy Sacz
Beziehungsarbeit - Kunst und Institution, Künstlerhaus k/haus, Vienne
NeoSI #2: neue Situationistische Inter......nationale, Kunstraum Schattendorf, Schattendorf
5x5Castelló2011, Premi Internacional d'Art Contemporani, Espai d'Art Contemporani de Castelló, Castelló
Magáért beszél !, Magyar Nemzeti Galéria / Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
Il est si doux..., Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, Château Giscours, Margaux
Where is my place ?, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa
Artbrussels 2011, Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, Bruxelles

2010
Paisatge. Paisatge?, Àngels, Barcelona
Architecture and Context - Breuer in Pécs, Fuga -, Budapest Center of Architecture, Budapest
Panorama (The Right of View), organisé par le British Council, Istanbul
Hilde Goldschmidt 1997 - 2009,  Museum Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienne
La Ciudad Interpretada, An exhibition in public space, Saint Jacques  de  Compostelle
There has been no Future, there will be no Past, ISCP International Studio & Curatorial Program, New York
Unmistakable Sentences, Ludwig Museum, Budapest
Related Spaces, Ernst Museum, Budapest
Over the Counter - Economy in Post-Socialist Art, Mucsarnok Kunsthalle, Budapest
Matériaux divers et autres bonnes nouvelles, Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, Bordeaux
Fine Line, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienne
Arrivals and Departures, Europe, Mole Vanvitelliana, Ancona
A pair of left shoes, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
Art always has its consequences, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
Transitland, Space Gallery, Bratislava
Fine Line, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienne
Le présent du passé, FRAC des Pays de la Loire, Gétigné-Clisson

2009
Typopass, critical design and conceptual typography, Dorottya gallery (Kunsthalle Budapest) & Platán Gallery (Polish Institute), Budapest
Storia Memoria Identitá, Fotografia contemporanea dall'Est Europa, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena Sant'Agostino
BC21 Art Award 2009, Augarten Contemporary, Vienne
Reduction & Suspense, Magazin4, Bregenzer Kunstverein
Rewind, fast forward, Neue Galerie, Graz
Figure/Ground, Transit, Mechelen
A pair of left shoes, Kunstmuseum, Bochum
Fifty fifty, Museum Karlsplatz, Vienne
New Acquisitions - Rarely seen works, Ludwig Museum, Budapest
Spotlight - New additions since 2003, Museum der Moderne,  Salzburg
El pasado en el presente, Juan Antonio Alvarez Reyes, Laboral Centro de Arte, Gijon
Reading the city, ev+a, Limerick
Expanded Box - Cinema, ARCO, Madrid

2008
50, Studio Galeria, Budapest
Moirés, Kunstraum der Universität Lüneburg
In Between, Austria Contemporary, Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery, Tel Aviv
Modern Ruin, Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
6th International Biennial, Gyumri
Art Unlimited, Art 39 Basel, Bâle
Phantasies of the Beginning, Billboard Gallery, Bratislava
Am Puls der Stadt - 2000 Jahre Karlsplatz, Wien Museum Karlsplatz, Vienne
Undiszipliniert. Das Phänomen in Kunst, Architektur und Design, WUK, Vienne
Islands+Ghettos / Phase III, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg
[scene missing], Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienne
[scene missing], Thomas Schulte gallery, Berlin  

2007
Cine y casi cine. 7a edición, MNCARS  - Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid
Kapitaler Glanz, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf
Modelle für Morgen: Köln, European Kunsthalle, Cologne

2006
This Land is My Land, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin
Center, MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles
Wood, Photographs, Aluminium Plate,...., Jocelyn Wolff, Paris
How to do Things, Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Berlin
This Land is My Land, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nuremberg
Der Raum zwischen zwei Bildern, Fotohof, Salzburg
Geschichte(n) vor Ort, Volkertviertel, Vienne
How to do Things, Trafó, Budapest

2005
Re:Modern, Künstlerhaus, Vienne
Brutal Ornamental, Kosak Hall gallery, Vienne
Reading in Absence, Trafó, Budapest
Utopie : Freiheit, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienne
Alice Creischer/Andreas Siekmann, Andreas Fogarasi, Dorit Margreiter, Kunstraum Lakeside, Klagenfurt (permanent)
29. Österreichischer Grafikwettbewerb, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck
Kunstraum Lakeside, Klagenfurt
Storyboards - Trapped in the escape, Vector Gallery, Iasi
Citysellingcitytelling, Sparwasser HQ, Berlin

2004
Images of Violence/Violence of Images, Biennial of Young Artists, Bucarest
Video as Urban Condition, Austrian Cultural Forum, Londres
Living Room, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienne
Wiener Linien, Wien Museum Karlsplatz, Vienne
Formate - (re-)constructing the city, Galeria Noua, Bucarest

2003
Gegeben sind... Konstruktion und Situation, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck
Balkan Konsulat proudly presents: Budapest, Rotor, Graz
GNS, Palais de Tokyo, Paris
Gravitation, Moszkva tér / Museum Ludwig, Budapest
Grosser Sommer an der Thaya, Drosendorf

2002
Site-Seeing: Disneyfizierung der Städte?, Künstlerhaus, Vienne
Evidence, Essor Gallery Project Room, Londres
Manifesta 4, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt/Main
Double Bind, ATA Center for Contemporary Art, Sofia
Gallery by Night, Stúdió Galéria, Budapest

2001
Szerviz, Mücsarnok/Kunsthalle, Budapest
Real presence, Studentski Kulturni Centar, Belgrade
A table, an office, a building..., Semperdepot, Vienne
January Show, Passagegalerie Künstlerhaus, Vienne

2000
Block, Apex Art C.P., New York
99/00, Semperdepot, Vienne

1999
Semperdepot, Vienne

1998
Clarice Works, Zentnerstrasse 18, Munich

1997
Új stúdiósok, Duna Galéria, Budapest

1995
Odyssee today, Université d'Athènes
Odyssee today, Depot, Vienne


CURATORING
2015
Space Trouble, avec Josef Dabernig, György Jovánovics, Eva Kotátková, Zsolt Tibor, Galerie Thomas Bernard - Cortex Athletico, Paris

2013
Eastern promises, Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art, Vienne


PROJECTION
2012
Vasarely Go Home, Mumok, Vienne

ARTWORK PUBLIC SPACE
Numbers (Cars), Freyung Parkgarage, Vienne

CONFERENCES
2010
The Urban Field Speakers Series, Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art, Toronto
Constructed Environment Lecture Series, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor/Ontario


AWARDS
2016
Msgr. Otto Mauer Preis

2008
Prof. Hilde Goldschmidt Preis
Pro Cultura Hungarica díj

2007
Golden Lion for best national participation, 52. Biennale de Venise

2006
MAK Schindler Stipendium, Los Angeles

2005
Grafikpreis des Bundeskanzleramtes

2004
Stúdió díj


TEXTS, CONTRIBUTIONS
Dérive - Magazine for Urban Studies (co-editeur depuis 2001)
71133 - Magazine of the Art Universities (co-editeur depuis 2000-2002)
Test Magazine (co-editeur depuis 1997)

2012
North American International Auto Show, in: Prefix Photo, No. 25

2009
The Place of Artists' Cinema: Space, Site and Screen, Maeve Connolly, Intellect/University of Chicago Press
Test Magazine (co-editor, 1997)

2007
Kultur und Freizeit, in: Multitudes 30
Kultur und Freizeit, in: springerin Bd. XIII, Heft

2006
Visuelle Identität - Orte als Marken?, in: Dérive, Nr. 23
Bei zukünftigen Museumsplanungen Fehler vermeiden, in: Dérive, Nr. 23

2004
Public Brands: Bordeaux, in springerin, Bd. X, Heft 2
Der Essay als Form, in: Dérive, Nr. 15

2003
Public Brands: Secretariat d'etat ..., in: Version Magazine 0.4
So haben wir über das System gelacht, in: springerin, Bd. IX, Heft 3
Public Brands: Wiener Einkaufsstraßen, in: Strassenfeger, Artforum Spezial, Ausgabe 21
Public Brands: The nine states of Austria, in: Journal for Northeastern Issues, Nr. 2

2002
Bratislava-Petrzalka, in: Chicago
Argument Kultur, in: Dérive, Nr. 6

2001
Life codes, Diagramme und Schwarzweisskopien, in: Dérive, Nr. 4
Out of service, in: springerin, Bd. VII, Heft 4
Bahnhofsoffensive gegen soziale Randgruppen (avec Beat Weber), in: Dérive, Nr. 3
Beauty Now, in: 71133#27

2000
16 Bogen und Widerstand, in: 71133#25

1997
Kunst hautnah, in: Test, Nr. 0


CATALOGS

2018
Spuren der zeit / Traces of time, exhibition catalogue at Leopold Museum, Vienna

2017
Plan, Bratislava City Galllery, Bratislava, Slovaquia
Circles + squares, Quart Heft für Kultur Tirol, 29/17

2016
Free Book Year, published by Andreas Fogarasi on the occasion of hi exhibition at LAMOA Los Angeles

2015
Artistes et architecture, dimensions variables, on the occasion of the exhibition, Editions du Pavillon de l'Arsenal

2014
Vasarely Go Home. Andreas Fogarasi, Helmut Völter, Franciska Zólyom, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig und Sabine Schaschl, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich, Leipzig
El teatro del mundo / The theater of the world, Museo Tamayo, México

2013
Andreas Fogarasi - Panorama. The Right of View, Bratislava (Sputnik Editions)

2012
Andreas Fogarasi - Cité de Refuge, Fondation Ricard, Paris
Ça & Lá, ed. Claude Closky, Paris (Palais de Tokyo)
Passion of an Ornithologist / On Myth Making, ed. Adam Budak, Nowy Sacz (BWA Sokol)

2011
Andreas Fogarasi / Sasha Pirker - Eagle Rock Playground House, Spector Books, Leipzig
A Gyu-jtemény / The Collection, ed. Barnabás Bencsik, Budapest (Ludwig Múzeum)
My City, ed. Özge Açikkol, Seçil Yersel, Istanbul (British Council)
Beziehungsarbeit / Kunst und Institution, ed. Martin Fritz, Vienna (Schlebrugge)
Over the Counter, ed. Judit Angel, Budapest (Mucsarnok)
2006-2011 evn collection, ed. Heike Maier-Rieper, Brigitte Huck, Köln (Walther König)
5 x 5, ed. Lorenza Barboni, Castelló (Espai d´art contemporani de Castelló)

2010
Cities and Placemarks, Folkemuseum, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen

2009
Boston Consulting & Belveder Contemporary art award
Professor-Hilde-Goldschmidt-Preis 1997-2009 by Professor-Hilde-Goldschmidt-Stiftung & MUMOK Wien

2008
Andreas Fogarasi, Information, Frankfurt/Main, (Revolver)
Andreas Fogarasi, 2008, Wien, Schlebruegge
Moirés, ed. Astrid Wege, Lüneburg
Islands+Ghettos, ed. Johan Holten, Nürnberg, (Verlag für Moderne Kunst)

2007
Andreas Fogarasi, Kultur und Freizeit, ed. Katalin Timár, Köln, (Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König)
Dictionary, ed. Ask, Hillesø, Rasmussen & Rosasco, Istanbul

2006
Andreas Fogarasi, A ist der Name für ein Modell / Étrangement proche, Frankfurt/Main, (Revolver)
This Land is my Land, ed. NGBK, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Berlin
How to do Things? ed. Dorothee Bienert, Antje Weitzel, Frankfurt/Main (Revolver)
Balkan Konsulat, ed. Margarethe Makovec, Anton Lederer, Frankfurt/Main (Revolver)
The Manifesta Decade, ed. Barbara Vanderlinden, Elena Filipovic, Cambridge (The MIT Press)

2005
Reading in Absence, ed. Eszter Lázár, Budapest (FKSE)
Utopie : Freiheit, ed. Verena Schäffer, Vienna
Visual Culture<%

Interview Luisa Espino,

Dardo magazine 26, December 2014 - May 2015

LUISA ESPINO
You pay special attention to the role that architecture plays in the commercialisation of a city's image with, for example, the construction of emblematic buildings. How would you describe the institutional criticism that can be noticed in your work?

ANDREAS FOGARASI
Part of my work stems from institutional criticism. When I started my career in the 1990's - whilst I was still studying but already aware of what was happening - a group of artists had a strong influence on me: the generation of Andrea Fraser, Christian Philipp Müller, Fareed Armaly, Mark Dion or Renée Green (who was my teacher at the Vienna Academy), as well as the previous generation, with people such as Allan Sekula or Martha Rosler. They are all artists that practice political criticism, and this is partly where I come from. However, in my work I do not refer to an artistic institution in a specific manner. It's true that the logic of the art world has become in some ways a logic of other more important systems - a process that we can call "culturalisation" of the economy. In many of my projects, I research the influence that museums, galleries, artists, etc. have in urban development. What is the role of architecture, where do the projects go once they come off the architect's drawing table, in what context, in which society? ... How can an art museum function when it is placed in an arbitrary manner in London, New York or Abu Dhabi. It is maybe something that isn't so different from what Louise Lawler does when he looks at the context in which artworks finish.

LUISA ESPINO
In Barcelona Sights (Architecture), you talk about the mediatisation of architecture, of iconic buildings that have been converted into little dots on a map, used as a tourist attraction and a source of revenue..

ANDREAS FOGARASI
Yes, totally, to attract tourism, to attract media attention, investors, for external communication and also with the inhabitants. Moreover, we see other phenomena such as the European Capitals of Culture, large infrastructure projects with the "culture" label, simply because museums are being built, almost always thought up solely for this specific moment, and that in the years that follow, end up with no budget for alternative initiatives of any scale. It's very important for cities and sometimes also for the cultural scene. Last summer, I went to Romania and all the cities I crossed through were applying or had applied for the title of Cultural Capital. Culture is always perceived in a positive way. Many cities in Europe and beyond are post-industrial and must reinvent themselves and it seems as if there aren't many possible options: the city of culture, the city of knowledge, of sport, of technology, of fashion, of leisure: all these names are new identities on which it isn't complicated to communicate. I concentrate on the role of the cultural institution in all this mechanism.

LUISA ESPINO
Do cities build their images based on very different models? You barely touched on this theme concerning Vienna, your city.

ANDREAS FOGARASI
I honestly believe that it is a very globalised process. It's always the same five architects, with a woman as well. All of them want to count. All of them want to make an iconic architectural work. Concerning Vienna, everything changes slowly here. This city is an ideal scenario to see transformations in slow motion.

LUISA ESPINO
How do you prefer us to label your artworks: as installations, sculptures, architectures...?

ANDREAS FOGARASI
There are two inseparable aspects in my artwork that sometimes clash: the documentary and the sculptural. The first is quite obvious: I research themes that then I present. I give information. I communicate. The second aspect, the sculptural, has a lot of presence, it is very architectonic and normally, the materials and techniques that I use do not come from traditional sculpture. In some ways, I also like to think of sculpture as a documentary practice. I try to make hybrid objects that combine visual and formal information, that are linked to other things. Sometimes it is obvious, sometimes the links are hidden. I often use the display format to show information. In the artwork Süden, one of the first ones I created, this sculptural aspect transformed itself into something more independent. This artwork included an object that held no information, that was only an object, a signal, an advertisement board. These counters are usually made out of metal or painted wood, but I made it in untreated plywood, as if it was a full scale model but that at the same time didn't represent anything. Several years later, in 2008, I made the same object out of stone for an exhibition in Bordeaux. It was very heavy and solid sandstone, identical to almost all of the city's buildings. Surface areas and materials have always interested me. For example, in the video series Kultur und Freizeit that I presented in 2007 at the Venice Biennial, amongst the different wide angle views of spaces, urban contexts and documentary information, the camera stopped on details such as a wall, a facade or zoomed in on a surface.

LUISA ESPINO
Can we therefore talk about two principles of work: the first one on the image of the city, and the second - more minimalist - on materials, drawing, structures, etc.?

ANDREAS FOGARASI
I think that these two principles are inseparable. I believe that the documentary aspect of my work is generally structured in a very formal manner and the objects are very informative as such.

LUISA ESPINO
The connexion would therefore be between the documentary and the architectonic.

ANDREAS FOGARASI
Yes. The small cinematographic systems I made for Kultur und Frizet are also sculptures. They talk about the inside and the outside. They have a front part and a back part, there is a side on which there is a video screening and on the other - the one covered in black plywood - it looks like a minimalist object floating in space. There is also a part at the back where one can see the whole structure, like a backstage. Finally, all these materialities reinforce the theatrical aspect of the installation that echoes the spaces that appear in the videos.

LUISA ESPINO
In the artwork you mentioned, just as in many others, you leave part of the sculpture unshaped. For example, in Les Etoiles [Stars], exhibited recently at Georg Kargl gallery, you combine mirrored surfaces with plywood visible on the back

ANDREAS FOGARASI
What lies behind things interests me greatly. For example, if you pay close attention to the marble walls I exhibited at the Reina Sofia museum, or in my previous work, the marble I used is a very architectonic material. It's not just a sculpted, solid block, but a panel 2 cm thick, like the ones we normally use to cover facades, kitchens or bathrooms, with a polished front part and an untreated back part. When we move around these artworks, it becomes obvious that the back part, that had the same importance as the front for me, is the most polished surface on which I would usually hang photographs.

LUISA ESPINO
Let's talk a little about your photographic process. Do you take photos in Vienna or just when you travel?

ANDREAS FOGARASI
Mainly when I travel.

LUISA ESPINO
As you study in advanced the architectures of your travel destinations beforehand and you plan their visit, do you know in advance what you will be photographing?

ANDREAS FOGARASI
They are usually buildings that I know well, architectural icons that I have seen reproduced in many images. I study the details but also how these buildings are connected to their environment. I have nothing to say, only something to show and I do it by choosing the point of view and the framing. I like having an architectural guide nearby when I go to a new city to visit specific buildings that I photograph, almost like a hobby because I usually don't use most of the images afterwards. I often end up with something I wouldn't have thought of at the beginning, sometimes ephemeral structures. But I don't have any photographic training, normally I don't bring any substantial equipment with me. I usually take pictures with a small camera, and sometimes the ones I need are the worst, almost blurry.

LUISA ESPINO
Wood, stone, marble, mirror are materials you have worked with a lot. At Reina Sofia museum, you created a dialogue between the artworks and the museum rooms. In you last pieces, you use mirror, that allowed you to play more with forms and reflections. Do you have a favorite material?

ANDREAS FOGARASI
The most basic material is wood. It is the cheapest and the easiest to manipulate, I always use it to create models. In artworks like Süden for example, it is quite clear. To prepare this artwork, I went to the International Car Show, the salon in Paris, and I took hundreds of photos of displays, of materials, of screens, of the way things were shown to the public. In 2008, I don't really know why, I started using marble. The first time I had the idea was in 2006 when I was working on Kultur und Freizeit. It appeared to me that an object like this (he shows a rhomboid marble piece) could be easily placed near the video, because of its abstract form linked to the formal language of some buildings and because it is a hybrid between a monument and a commercial brand. Marble is a material that we often associate, without meaning to, with power, wealth, monumentality. Recently, I listened to an interview of a photographer from the Magnum agency, Thomas Hoepker, in which he said that a good photograph is like cutting out a piece of the world. For me, marble is just like that: you cut out a piece of the world and its surface documents the geological process that created it. In the end, this material is fashionable but when I started working with it - not that long ago - it was a material that a contemporary conceptual artist would not have used, and this interested me greatly.

LUISA ESPINO
And copper?

ANDREAS FOGARASI
I started using it not so long ago in a project I am creating for a public space: three covers for staircases that lead to an underground garage in Vienna. The aerodynamic shapes are similar to those of petrol stations of the 1950's and 60's, at a time when cars were a distinctive sign. Moreover, we can find this material in many roofs in the historical centre of Vienna. It is very interesting in its transformation over time. The reddish and shiny aspect doesn't last very long, it then becomes brown, stays like this for a while and ends up, fifty years later, going green. It's aesthetic but not luxurious and it's a very organic material.

LUISA ESPINO
Are the forms as important as the materials in your work?

ANDREAS FOGARASI
In many ways, I am a formalist artist and deep down, I believe I am a minimalist. For example in the Public Brands videos, in which I work on the logos of cities and regions, one of the small manipulations that I do - beyond selecting them and putting them in alphabetical order - consists in transforming them into black and white. The logo's iconography interests me far more than its colours and moreover, I find them more aesthetic in this way. It felt obvious for me to change things in order to focus on the aspects that interest me the most.

LUISA ESPINO
Which technique do you feel more comfortable with?

ANDREAS FOGARASI
When I work with video, I do everything myself: research, film, editing, etc. and I make the most of this freedom. Besides, I don't need to plan everything ahead and this is very exciting: I take the camera and I observe what is going on in front of it. For example, the Constructing/Dismantling video that I recorded in Santiago de Compostela that shows the dismantling of a fair and its conversion into a park, was a magical experience. Then it comes the editing process that is more difficult and takes more time.

LUISA ESPINO
Therefore, video is the technique that allows you to be more spontaneous, but you also appear to be very meticulous in its presentation and you always end up with architectonic displays.

ANDREAS FOGARASI
In all of my artworks - sculptures as well as photographs - I am very precise in the dimensions and the space distribution. The same thing happens in my videos, they have very specific measurements and technical dispositions. That is why I never send them to cinema festivals. For me, when talking about videos, the important thin isn't time, but space.