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24. 02. 10. - 12:00

Swingers' club at Vienna's Secession causes controversy

A project by Swiss artist Christoph Büchel at Vienna’s "Secession" has caused widespread controversy.

The project features a club in the building’s basement called "Element6" that the media have labelled a "swingers’ club," and a number of politicians have objected to it.

Club organisers, however, have said that "we usually avoid use of the term ‘swingers’ club’ since it does not correspond with our concept."

Büchel has said that he wants to cause as much artistic controversy as occurred after Austrian artist Gustav Klimt painted the Beethoven frieze at the Secession shortly after it was built in 1898.

Vienna’s Social Democratic (SPÖ) Mayor Michael Häupl said: "Naturally, the idea (of a swingers’ club) does not please me. I am not responsible for swingers’ clubs and am in no way interested in them."

He hastened to add, however, that the city government would not cut its subsidy for the Secession since it was an internationally recognised cultural institution. "An artist needs provocation," he said.

Right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ) leader Heinz-Christian Strache said: "The City Hall SPÖ must have flipped its lid if it has provided 90,000 Euros for the installation of a project reflecting the sweaty fantasies of a Swiss ‘artist’ featuring public group sex."

The media have reported that it cost 90,000 Euros to prepare for the project at the Secession.

Vienna FPÖ provincial MP Gerald Ebinger said: "Gang-bang parties have nothing to do with art and culture and should not be publicly supported."

He added that misuse of "the freedom of art" would diminish the importance of Austria as a land of culture and Vienna as a city of culture.

The People’s Party’s (ÖVP) Ursula Stenzel, who heads the first district or inner city’s administration, said there had been no talk of a group-sex event when the project had been discussed and the first district would not provide any financial support for it.

Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) official Rainer Widmann said his party opposed "exchanges of sexual partners" as "a cultural concept."

The Vienna Secession movement, also known as the Union of Austrian Artists, was formed in 1897 by a group of Austrian artists who had resigned from the Association of Austrian Artists to be able freely to pursue their own vision of art. Klimt was one of those who seceded from the Association.

Architect Josef Maria Olbrich designed the Secession building that became the group’s headquarters and a venue for its exhibitions.

Austrian Times

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