There are plenty of opportunities for confronting death in Vienna: a stroll through the Central Cemetery, Europe's largest necropolis, a dark excursion to the imperial crypt [Kaisergruft] and the crypt of St. Michael's church, or a visit to Vienna's Funeral Museum, the first of its type in the world when it was founded in 1967. In fact, according to a song by Georg Kreisler, death is a Viennese, who visits everyone sooner or later. And to ensure that the visit by the Grim Reaper is remembered for ever, Bestattung Wien has been seeing to it since 1907 that the final send-off is a memorable one for those left behind.
The company, which celebrated its 100th anniversary on 1 July, is wholly owned by the City of Vienna and is responsible every year for some 20,000 burials. It also offers a number of additional modern services. The latest trend is the revival of the tradition of the death mask, the most prominent example of which is the recently deceased jazz musician Joe Zawinul, whose alabaster mask can be seen from 20 October at the exhibition "Exitus. Tod alltäglich" at the Künstlerhaus.
"Exitus. Tod alltäglich"
The exhibition, a cooperation between the Künstlerhaus and Bestattung Wien, features the history of the long-established funeral company and also Viennese everyday life and culture and its artistic treatment of death. It includes paintings by prominent artists like Hermann Nitsch, HR Giger and Alfred Hrdlicka as well as various objects - from plush coffins from the USA, which bring a touch of Hollywood to Vienna, to designer tombs, magnificent carriages or fashionable lamps in the form of a skull.
The post-mortem photos are also interesting. This custom was particularly popular in Vienna at the end of the 19th century and had the deceased photographed in their best clothes attached to an armchair to make them look as lifelike as possible.
There is also Ashley Gilbertson's photo series "Birth and Death", Daniel Bräg's humorous installation "Wreaths available every day from 8 am to 4 pm" and Angela Koch's installation & performance "Mein Leichenschmaus".
"Viva la Muerte!"
And when death is not spending its time in Vienna, it is quite likely to be found in Latin America, where the attitude to dying and eternity looks completely different. This specific approach will be described in the coming months in "Viva la Muerte! Art and Death in Latin America" at the Kunsthalle in the Museumsquartier.
It will include Ivan Edeza's snuff video, which shows people shooting at Brazilian Indians from a helicopter, sensationalist boulevard photographs of accidents and disasters by Enrique Metinides, and a clown skull by the Brazilian artist Vik Muniz. One of the high points is the work of the Mexican Teresa Margolles, which has as its subject the many anonymous deaths in Mexico City. It includes acoustic work in which the scratching and scraping of a dissection can be heard as well as seemingly harmless soap bubbles made from the water in which the corpses are washed.
» http://www.wieninternational.at/en/node/5368
