…of bread, wine, cars, security and peace

Vlatka Horvat was commissioned to make five new sculptural works for Kunsthalle Wien's exhibition titled "…of bread, wine, cars, security and peace," which was the inaugural exhibition of Kunsthalle's new directors, WHW collective. The commission comprises three related sculptures - On the Losing Side, Up and Over, and No Head for Heights - presented in a cluster in relation to one another; a sprawling 15-meter long piece titled Balance Beam stretching across the museum's massive top floor gallery; and Above Us Only the Sky, a site-responsive work installed underneath a skylight in the museum's central staircase.
In different ways, all five pieces work and rework gestures of ascent, of being lifted or suspended, while at the same time articulating a strong relationship to the ground. They are either held down by a base, or placed in a situation that suggests an imminent fall, a collapse or a touchdown might be forthcoming. The sculptures bring into a dynamic relation two concurrent pulls: on the one hand, an aspiration for the heights and a desire to get off the ground; and on the other, a desire to be grounded because the ground is posited as a position of safety and stability, as provisional as it may be.

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