Michael Schuster

With the installation of the Corona sculpture COVID192020, Michael Schuster commemorates the social state of emergency caused by the pandemic. The cracked lettering, which refers to the name as well as the year of origin and spread of the pandemic, is intended to be inscribed in the collective memory as a sign of remembrance.

The perspective of art on the social dimensions of the Corona crisis and its effects, which are permanently changing our lives, is essential. According to Ivan Krastev, one of the peculiarities of art is that when we look at a work of art, it draws our attention to the so-called normal, which often easily eludes our attention: “...a work of art [possesses] the ability to make the familiar look unfamiliar, forcing us to see the usual through fresh eyes. [...] Art excites the public about the ‘normal,’ while politics trivializes the exceptional.”1

The brittle form of the letters and numbers of the sculpture – caused by the choice of Corten steel as the material – refers to the multiple threats and fragility of our lives and our society. The solid base, by contrast, stands for the resilience of the human organism. When one approaches the sculpture, points of light flicker unpleasantly. Together, these aspects transform the lettering “Covid19 2020”, which has become “normal” due to the pandemic, into an obscure phenomenon whose threat on a social and health level can be felt in the form of Schuster’s sculpture.

1 Ivan Krastev (2020), Is It Tomorrow Yet? Paradoxes of the Pandemic, London: Penguin UK, p. 25.

Standort:

Erzherzog-Johann-Allee
Auf der Wiese zwischen
Burgring und Burtor
47°04'19.2"N 15°26'39.6"E