Werner Reiterer (artist)

Werner Reiterer (born April 25, 1964 in Leibnitz / Styria) is an Austrian artist .

life and work

Werner Reiterer studied graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Maximilian Melcher . He is a member of the Graz Forum Stadtpark and the Vienna Secession . The basis of his artistic work is the unlimited graphic series of the "Drawn Exhibitions", a series of 70 x 50 cm pencil drawings that are based on artistic ideas in the broadest sense.

Interventions in public space, sculptures, photographs and technically complex installations, which mostly actively involve the viewer in the work, emerge from this series of drawings, which the artist calls a kind of “pool of ideas”.

But “ideas that cannot be realized in three dimensions” are also reflected in this work block of the drawing. From a creative point of view, the drawings have a strictly maintained formalism that makes use of the most varied of materials and techniques in the three-dimensional works. It is not the formal style that is decisive here, but rather the establishment of a “style of thinking” that primarily pursues the creation of immaterial, sculptural fields.

And because Werner Reiterer's entire artistic approach is very close to people, these works can often speak or breathe, and challenge the viewer to take certain actions. In short, the works “behave in a human-like manner on a character level”. Due to the very pronounced interactive level of the work, the human being is not only actively involved in the conception and implementation of the work as “living, sculptural material”, but is also an essential part of the work.

Art project "Crash" at Leibnitzer Hauptplatz (2013)

Furthermore, Reiterer realized and realized numerous temporary or permanent works in public space. In this context, it is less of interest to clump with huge sculptures made durable for the outside space than to implant sculptural components that are able to redefine a space.
Example: “Crash” art project on Leibnitzer Hauptplatz: In 2013, Werner Reiterer installed a temporary art object as part of the 100th anniversary of the city ​​of Leibnitz . He apparently let a car crash into the Marian column. The campaign cost 30,000 euros and was terminated prematurely after the car fell victim to an arsonist on November 17th.

Reiterer describes this mode of interaction as "setting a placebo". The term placebo plays on the one hand with the idea of ​​the medical placebo , which is able to simulate something that does not really exist, and on the other hand with the artistic setting of a parameter that creates a "new place" in the viewer's perception.

Werner Reiterer was a member of the German Association of Artists .

Awards and scholarships (selection)

• 1989 Prize of the Mautner Markhof Foundation at Geist und Form XII, Vienna
• 1989 Römerquelle discovery prize at the Römerquelle art competition
• Cologne scholarship from Forum Stadtpark , Graz
• 1990 Art Prize of the State of Styria for contemporary visual arts
• 1992 1st prize, International Biennale, Cairo
• 1993 New York scholarship from the BKA.
• 1994 Rome scholarship from the BKA.
• 1995 Prize for the fine arts of the state capital Graz
• 1996 State scholarship for fine arts
• Elisabeth Schneider Prize, Freiburg im Breisgau
• 1997 work grant from the City of Vienna
• 1998/99 London scholarship from the BKA
• 2002 art prize of the city of Graz
• 2003 Prize of the State of Upper Austria at the 28th Austrian Graphics Competition 2003

Individual evidence

1. ↑ kuenstlerbund.de: Full members of the German Association of Artists since it was founded in 1903 / Reiterer, Werner ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on December 16, 2015) 

Web links

• Entry for Werner Reiterer (artist) in the database of the state's memory of the history of Lower Austria ( Museum Niederösterreich )
• Literature by and about Werner Reiterer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Werner Reiterer on kunstaspekte.de
• Werner Reiterer at the Michael Cosar Gallery, Düsseldorf.
• Art project by Werner Reiterer in the Gaulhofer company, Übelbach, Austria , 2010.