Post by Martina Moswitzer

Arthistory | Gerhardt Moswitzer | Studio Vienna Krieau | Sounds, Sax, Turntables, Vinyl and so on | part 2 |  At the beginning of march 2013 - a very cold march with unusual masses of snow - Gerhardt Moswitzer and I managed our last stay together in his studio in Krieau, Vienna. I remember him on the upper floor, in the room with the large glass window that filled almost the entire length of the wall, with the exception of an area next to the door where he had once placed a minimalist painting to please me;  black on canvas, a few iconic brushstrokes by Gottfried Fabian and the door itself. Through this studio window, one could look down into the vast studio hall with its 7-metre-high walls and cranes, where many of his metal sculptures had been created. The hall was still filled with sculptural works spanning several decades.  In front of the window stood a very large and extremly stable steelmade table. Some of Gerhardts small frame-sculptures with their steel- and aluminium-layers and glas- and / or plexiglasfragments were standing there aswell turntables, amplifyer, a minimalistic pc version, boxes… Gerhardt put records on a turntable, listend to some tracks, sat down to his original american wooden rocking chair from time to time. He had bought two identical just to have one in spare. It had been hard to get the model he wanted. His movements were calm as usual. He did not smoke! He wore glases. He had lost all his hair, the medication had altered his face. In this period when I had my husbands head in front of my eyes an additional aspect of Constanin Brancusis head sculptures stroke me. Particullarily the one that does not totally resample an egg but the shape is imposed. It exists in mamor and polished bronce. Those sculptures with their peaceful appearance I had not received that near to death til than. Even though it had of course allways made sence. When I had my husbands physical change in front of my eyes during this last stay in his studio, I gained an additional very painful aspect of those works that allways had been so near to me and had amongst others great influence on my understanding of 20th century sculpture and its developement.  Gerhardt looked peaceful. It marked a peaceful end to his longterm stay in his famous studio in Krieau 246 in 1020 Vienna. A place that, back in 1970, didn’t even have a postal address – the one that was in longterm use was created for the location by Gerhardt himself so that mail could be delievered to. At this place he could create art in every corner, on every level, both indoors and outdoors. Whether it involved metal sculptures, photography, sound production, animation or filmmaking, whether analogue or digital. Day or night.  Illustration: Martina Chmelarz-Moswitzer: Gerhardt Moswitzer Hewiach. Film, Video, Animation, Sound, Photography, Web Art, Digital Sculpture. Brochure, Vienna 2013, 27 pages.