Tim Malone.id.au

For another month-and-a-half, the National Gallery in Victoria is exhibiting works from Vienna, Austria from a period of rapid change at the turn of the 20th century. I’m new to the appreciating-art world, and this exhibition caught my attention because of its byline:

A little over 100 years ago in Vienna, Austria, a group of radical young creators and thinkers overturned all the rules and created a brave new world. Vienna: Art & Design explores this extraordinary period, bringing together some 300 works by the greatest Viennese artists of the early twentieth century.

I love radicalism and the notion that if something isn’t right – you can change it. Or even if something isn’t necessarily wrong, but it can be made better – you can change it.

And so it wasn’t the art itself that drew me to this exhibition, but the thoughts of the designers and the societal impact of their work.

I was particularly drawn to Otto Wagner. Taking up the first one of a half rooms of the exhibit, this man was intelligent and multi-talented. An architect, artist, thinker and urban planner, Wagner saw Vienna grow from 476,000 people in 1857 to over 2 million shortly before World War I. It was typical of many of the designs in this exhibit to be “modern” beyond their time (so much so that some designs look like they could have been conceived yesterday), but Wagner’s were particularly so. Putting function over form, his designs took into account the needs of a growing metropolis without so much attention being given to it looking “nice”. Of course now we look back and appreciate the fine form in what Wagner did. Many of his ideas and projects were actually never realised, but he still managed to cement a position of architectural influence apparently due in part to his in-depth, all-things-considered approach to planning.

Along with four other designers also featured in the exhibition, Wagner became part of the Vienna Secession – a group of artists intent on rejecting the prevailing conservative culture based around the view of “we’ve always done it this way”. I’m new to appreciating art so there is probably much more depth to this than I am realising at present – but isn’t that an encouraging idea! That things don’t have to remain the way they always have, and as we learn and realise new thoughts and concepts it is possible to rethink the seeming absolutes of the past.

That’s a pretty rosy idea, but the Seccession still had its fair share of trouble. Artistic differences culminated in the group breaking up, but yet we still look back 100 years or so later at these ideas which have in part formed our world today. Conflict and problems don’t negate the influence of a project and I find that a helpful perspective to keep at top of mind when working with others.

Of course this has got me thinking. I like the idea of being able to change the world. But is that a good idea in and of itself? If I really think about it, I  want to be remembered for what I  have contributed to the world. It’s almost like I want to be sitting in front of a fireplace at 75 years old, looking back at everything I have done to make the world the (hopefully better) place it is then.

Apart from obviously being ego driven, there’s another big problem: what if what I do doesn’t change the world? What if it doesn’t work? What if, shock horror, I’m not the one that’s remembered?