As a collaborative artist duo, Anita Fuchs and Resa Pernthaller explore temporary interventions in the urban space, nomadic collective processes, and all manner of nature art. Their projects often begin with an ‘actionist’ approach: road trips that transfer plants across several states, the transportation of trees from a research station, or the sowing of a field with historical seeds. These ‘action art’ events are associated with contemporary societal topics such as climate change, terrorism, migration, history, global economies, and politics. Scientific, research-based endeavours and years of exchange with international institutions are all part of their conceptual work method.

The artist duo has chosen to take a closer look at the Kunst Haus Wien and analyse ‘the Museum as host’ in terms of its flora. The Kunst Haus Wien lends itself particularly well to this, given that its founder and designer Friedensreich Hundertwasser chose to provide the inner courtyard, the façade and the roof with plentiful, luxuriant plant life. So what does the Museum’s botanical setting look like today, twenty-six years later? That’s the question that Resanita will be keen to ascertain, document and implement artistically. Since autumn 2017 the artists have been busy compiling a photographic inventory of the flora and fauna in and around the KUNST HAUS WIEN. The artistic results and findings of their many months of analysis are to be presented in summer 2018.

Resa Pernthaller studied law and art history and lives in Styria and Vienna. Anita Fuchs studied biology, art history and painting at the Meisterschule für Kunst und Gestaltung [Master School for Art and Design] under Gerhard Lojen in Graz and lives in Styria.