The relationship between art, business and trademark, as well as the redefinition of aesthetic strategies, are the essential leitmotifs characterizing the work of the Austrian team Swetlana Heger and Plamen Dejanov. ‘Quite Normal Luxury’ is the result of a collaboration between the artists and a car manufacturer that dates from March 1999. For a period of one year, the partners swapped their roles and identities within a ‘transcultural synergy’.

A continuation of this project, ‘(Test the World)’ is both an extended form of exhibition and an attempt at redefining what a contemporary art collection is. The pivot of the project is a silver Z3 2.8 BMW Roadster. While the artists continue to use the car, it figures – as a mobile sculpture of the MAK Collection of Contemporary Art – as an absent exhibition object.

Taking the object out of the institutional context extends the defined framework for the production, reception, and collection of art and opens it up for new references. This way, ‘(Test the World)’ disrupts the practice of object-oriented exhibitions.
 

Curator Daniela Zyman