Gerold Tagwerker: ZUVERKAUFEN/ZUVERMIETEN
Factsheet
Format: Art in architecture/Façade installation
Location: 1130 Vienna, Hietzinger Kai 131, former BUWOG Customer and Administrative Centre
Creation: 2006–2007
Artist: Gerold Tagwerker (*1965 in Feldkirch, lives and works in Vienna and Feldkirch), www.geroldtagwerker.com
Info/Scope: Façade design of the former BUWOG Customer and Administrative Centre, 1130 Vienna, with a two-part 500 m2 banner that conveys the slogan Happy Living against the backdrop of oversized property advertisements.
Gerold Tagwerker: ZUVERKAUFEN/ZUVERMIETEN / TO SELL/TO RENT
Almost twenty years after its creation, Gerold Tagwerker's work ZUVERKAUFEN/ZUVERMIETEN reads like a quote from the analogue era, when we apartment seekers spent weeks poring over pages and pages of classified ads, became increasingly adept at interpreting diverse abbreviations and ideally learned to distinguish the slow sellers from the truly interesting offers before we had to contact estate agents and persuade owners. Little has changed in the digital age in terms of the explosive content (i.e. the housing shortage and escalating property prices), and Gerold Tagwerker's statement “Property ads are a mirror of social conditions” is more valid than ever. The artist pays tribute to commissioner BUWOG for placing its slogan Happy Living in the context of this critical artistic debate – a stance that was absorbed by around 30,000 people per day for a year.
