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Untitled (liminal landscape)

Nick Oberthaler

Large rectangular object with colorful geometric patterns and the text 'MQ' on a red circle in front of historic buildings.
Nick Oberthaler, Untitled (liminal landscape), 2023 © Nick Oberthaler, Photo: Niko Havranek

09.01. - 31.12.2023

MQ Forecourt

The Austrian artist Nick Oberthaler was invited by the MuseumsQuartier to design building containers on the neighbouring Signa construction site artistically.

Nick Oberthaler’s abstract compositions are distinguished by a graphic design vocabulary with origins in both real and digital space. This vocabulary is reduced to a few important freely composable and combinable design elements.

The works are produced digitally on a tablet using a vector program. The creative process can be compared with writing a musical score: Oberthaler frequently composes a drawing over many weeks, whereby sketches and studies also influence the design.

In the new work created specifically for the building containers, elementary forms like circles, squares, crosses, and lines in intensive colours are superimposed on top of each other and evoke abstract landscapes. Priming and surface, motif and topic, contour and area are regarded as equals in Oberthaler’s artistic practice. The playfully employed typology of recurring forms opens up an individual associative space.

The picture composition as a whole was printed on a mesh textile that covers the containers. They are situated on the Signa construction site on Mariahilfer Straße 10–18, where the Lamarr luxury department store and the Hotel Thompson Vienna will be completed in 2025.

Large mural with diagonal stripes and geometric shapes on a building facade, with a streetlight, trees, and bicycles in front.
Nick Oberthaler, Untitled (liminal landscape), 2023 © Nick Oberthaler, Photo: Niko Havranek
Cube-shaped building with large-scale facade design of geometric patterns and color gradients, with several bicycles and bike racks in front.
Nick Oberthaler, Untitled (liminal landscape), 2023 © Nick Oberthaler, Photo: Niko Havranek
Large rectangular mural with an abstract pattern of color fields and lines on a flat roof in front of a tree and historic building.
Nick Oberthaler, Untitled (liminal landscape), 2023 © Nick Oberthaler, Photo: Niko Havranek
Large wall with a yellow-green gradient, small blue dots, and a section with horizontal stripes, partly shaded by branches.
Nick Oberthaler, Untitled (liminal landscape), 2023 © Nick Oberthaler, Photo: Niko Havranek

Special Edition for Amnesty International Austria

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the artist Nick Oberthaler in cooperation with the MuseumsQuartier has created an edition whose proceeds will be donated to Amnesty International Austria. The edition was produced with the kind support of Foto Leutner. It is available at the MQ Point or in the MQ Onlineshop.

Square pattern with a left area speckled in yellow and green and a right area of horizontal yellow, green, blue, and gray lines with green dots
Nick Oberthaler, Untitled (liminal landscape), 2023 © Nick Oberthaler

Nick Oberthaler
Untitled (Amnesty International Edition), 2023
Edition 75
30 x 30 cm
Pigmentdruck on Hahnemühle Ultra Smooth

Euro 150.- (incl. VAT)

MQ Forecourt

Grayscale architectural site map of the MuseumsQuartier Wien. The map includes various labeled structures and surrounding roads.
© MuseumsQuartier Wien