Norbert Brunner (born 1969, Hohenems, Austria) is an Austrian object, conceptual and installation artist. Brunner’s mirror objects reflect not only the viewer, but also superimpose messages across their visual path, insisting they become an interactive part of the installation. He studied on the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Currently, Brunner lives and works in Vienna and New York City.
BIOGRAPHY
| 1969 | Born in Hohenems, Austria |
| 1984 – 1987 | Cabinetmaker apprenticeship in Hohenems, Austria |
| 1987 – 1990 | Sculptor school in Elbigenalp, Tirol |
| 1990 – 1994 | Studied at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, master class in sculpture Prof. Wander Bertoni, further: Oswald Oberhuber, Bernhard Leitner, Franz Graf, Isabelle Graw |
WORK
Norbert Brunner’s concepts represent the necessity of an artistic discourse in the social process – an opening to the “other = everyday”. This implies a distanced attitude towards one’s own practice, critical judgment and the ability to put oneself in different (cultural) contexts and to avoid self-references whenever possible.
His work revolves around cultural diversity, class structures as well as popular. culture and models of perception – topics, theirs – not
Finally brought about by the development of the differentiated information society – complexity detach itself from the main theme of
the “self” and the individual and address the concepts and problems of authorship or copyright.
In his works, Brunner breaks the conventions of different art genres -sculpture, video, photography and installation – which transcends the traditional repertoire of artists and at the same time evades the danger of art being banished into new aesthetic conceptual ghettos.
In doing so, he chooses a visual language that calls into question traditional perspectives, his conundrum between the two- and three-dimensional manifests itself above all in his preoccupation with everyday objects and signs.
Traditional content, symbols and signs are “distorted”. The work aims to activate the fields of experience and perception and offer the recipient sufficient material to experience their own daily environment more consciously and in a more differentiated manner. Seeing is then a multiple look at several meanings on different levels, an exploration of generated irritations. Brunner generates objects from the “source” of everyday life that are neither images nor symbols, rather they convey perceptual structures that invite the viewer to participate in the creation of high and low (art) in order to allow him to participate in the discovery of contemporary art.
Art serves as a model of life and Norbert Brunner would ultimately like to explain the development of human consciousness itself to be a plastic act.
Barbara Pichler
SOLO SHOWS
| 2022 |
“STOP !”, Hochsommer art festival 2022, Kugelmuehle, Feldbach “FEEL THE FEAR AND DO IT ANYWAY !”, Funnel Contemporary, curator Domenico de Chirico, Belgrade |
| 2020 |
“YOU ARE ALLOWED TO”, Galerie Sturm und Schober, Vienna |
| 2017 |
“AUTHENTICITY AND COURAGE”, Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, USA |
| 2016 |
“COOK LOCAL ACT INFINITE”, Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, USA “ MIAMI PROJECT”, art fair, selected project “cook local act infinite”, curator Max Fishko in cooperation with Claire Oliver Gallery NYC “COOK LOCAL ACT INFINITE”, project space Gallery Baeckerstrasse 4, Vienna, Austria |
| 2014 |
“CHOOSE TO BELIEVE”, Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, NYC “NOW OR NEVER”, Gallery Baeckerstrasse 4, Vienna |
| 2012 |
“SMILING BROADLY”, Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, NYC |
| 2010 |
“FUCK LUCK”, Oliver Claire Gallery New York, NYC |
| 2009 |
“ARE YOU SURE ?”, mirror object installation at EIKON art window museum quarter Vienna; curator Elisabeth Gottfried, Vienna “WE ARE ALLOWED TO…”, Caprice Horn Gallery, Berlin |
| 2008 |
“HEROES”, Aidan Gallery, Moscow, Russia “FUTURE WINDOWS”, Gallery Lukas Feichtner, Vienna |
| 2006 |
„EVERYDAY HEROES”, F2 Gallery, Beijing, China |
| 2005 |
“WISDOM OF NATURE”, exhibition during the EXPO in Aichi-Nagoya, curator Robert Punkenhofer, in cooperation with Galerie 141, Nagoya, Japan |
| 2003 |
“00.00.00”, Cubic Gallery, Osaka, Japan |
| 2002 |
“ANOTHER STEP”, Federal Ministry of the Interior, curator Barbara Pichler, Vienna, Austria “VIP”, Gallery 141, Nagoya, Japan “NEXT STOP ANDELSBUCH”, Kulturverein Andelsbuch, in the former railway station Andelsbuch, Austria |
| 2001 |
“07.12”, Epstein Coffee lounge, curator Wolfgang Scheuer, Vienna |
| 2000 |
“ZWERGENKRIEG”, 6 large multi media installations in the new office space from bwin.com, Vienna “W/E(A)ST”, Gallery 141, Nagoya, Japan |
| 1999 |
“WHY NOT”, CICR, UNO-building, curator Lisa Corsi, Geneva, Switzerland “T IS NOW”, SFP Gallery, curator Lisa Corsi, Geneva, Switzerland “2 FOR 1 AND MORE”, Technology center Eisenstadt, curator Barbara Pichler, Austria “SUPASACHE”, private space, Vienna |
| 1998 |
“NOW”, Galeria Litera, Praha, Czech Republic “JUST NOW” Cubic Gallery, Osaka, Japan |
| 1997 |
“COMMUNICATION”, Cubic Gallery, Osaka, Japan “SHORT CUT”, project space Bank Burgenland, curator Barbara Pichler, Eisenstadt, Austria “FIRST STEP”, Gallery Eboran, Salzburg, Austria “COMMUNICATION II”, Projekt Galerie, Deggendorf, Germany |
| 1996 |
‘TEDDY”, Cubic Gallery, Osaka, Japan |
| 1992 |
“ROLLEN!”, University of Applied Arts, Vienna |