Untitled

Heimo Zobernig creates objects that investigate the re- lationship between artwork, interior architecture, and mise-en-scène design, as well as shifting contexts of display. In 1977 Zobernig took set design courses at the Vienna Academy and thereafter he embraced the history, theory, and practice of theater production. Using lightweight and portable materials that are often central to crafting theatrical props would become a continued strategy in his subsequent studio practice. Since the mid-1980s Zobernig has constructed sculptures out of domestic materials such as Styrofoam and cardboard; the latter makes up the tubular construction shown here. These minimal productions often simulate furniture or display apparatus, appearing both familiar and uncanny in a gallery setting.Untitled has no fixed mode of display. Its thin post-like structure atop a round base suggests a plinth or stanchion. The enamel surface treatment of Untitled represents just one of the subtle choices Zobernig made to stage a situation in which his objects become irreverent stand-ins for their functional counterparts. The sculpture’s precarious, in-between status is a key aspect of its stage presence. Despite being a discrete object on its own, Untitled operates within a network of contexts that continuously recast its role: the institution, spectatorship, and the sculpture’s placement in relation to other works. Scaled to the human body, this work’s relationship to its surrounding space and the viewer becomes critical to its reception.