Konzett

A passion for art and devoted collecting activities set the cornerstones for the program of KONZETT Gallery, founded in Graz in 1989. Since 2006 the gallery’s headquarters are located in downtown Vienna.

Philipp Konzett started to collect works of Viennese Actionism, besides ethnographic art from Africa and Asia, in the 1980s. The oeuvre of Günter Brus, Otto Muehl and Hermann Nitsch is in particular comprehensively represented within the gallery’s program. Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Arnulf Rainer and Alfons Schilling complete the picture and make the Konzett collection one of the most noteworthy collections in Austria.

The works of Joseph Beuys and Dieter Roth, which deal with questions relating to the ephemeral and the sustainable and thus represent a consistent counterpart to the very ‘physical’ art of Actionism, form another focus in the gallery’s collecting-, exhibition- and art trade activities. Yet Philipp Konzett does not only compile works of art in the narrow sense but also miscellaneous items, books and original documents addressed to his fields of interest. Hence he also became a frequent and welcome lender in national and international solo and themed exhibitions.Beside 20th-century art legends such as Marcel Duchamp and Yves Klein, well-established contemporary artists such as Nobuyoshi Araki or Miroslav Tichy, Franz West and Heimo Zobernig occupy their firm place in the gallery.From 2010 to 2011 the exhibition program included, amongst others, Austrian classics such as Otto Muehl and Rudolf Polanszky. The numerous themed exhibitions and remarkable solo shows offer interesting cross references to most recent contemporary Austrian art by e.g. Christian Eisenberger, Barbara Anna Husar or Kurt Hofstetter.