Special School for Sculpture

The inscription Spezialschule für Bildhauerei (Specialist School for Sculpture) can still be found on the building in Kurzbauergasse today. The sculpture school was formally called “special” between 1864 and 1921 to distinguish it from the Allgemeine Bildhauereischule (General Sculpture School), which was to prepare students for the facility. The exhibition Specialist School for Sculpture brings together artistic positions that, in various ways, forge bridges to the sculpture studio of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, which was built in 1912/13 in the cottage quarter of the Prater.

Research on the history of the building as well as on artistic works related to the institution was strongly tied to personal conversations and interview situations from the outset and developed in different directions through the members of the working group. Without laying claim to completeness and a chronological approach in its presentation, the exhibition introduces artistic contributions that address the history of different sculptural practices as well as personal strategies and approaches in the confrontation with the period of study.

Supplementing the exhibition, a bilingual book was produced, which approaches the history of the Specialist School for Sculpture in Vienna’s Prater in the form of monthly miniatures from the founding year of the building in 1913. The publication takes selected events, occurrences, and facts of this year’s various months as an opportunity to highlight relevant strands and episodes in the history of the building and its protagonists.