November 2, 2022–June 30, 2023
The New Angel by Cao Fei, the 25th “Safety Curtain” at the Vienna State Opera, is presented by the museum in progress.
“Safety Curtain” is a series of exhibitions created by museum in progress, which has been using the Vienna State Opera House’s safety curtain as an exhibition space since 1998. Daniel Birnbaum, Bice Curiger, and Hans Ulrich Obrist make up the jury that chooses the artists whose 176 square meter works are displayed at the State Opera for one season and are visible to over 600,000 visitors. Previous artists include Tauba Auerbach, Thomas Bayrle, David Hockney, Martha Jungwirth, Jeff Koons, Maria Lassnig, Beatriz Milhazes, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Rosemarie Trockel, Cy Twombly, Kara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems and others.
On the occasion of the “Safety Curtain” project, a signed edition by Cao Fei (C-print behind acrylic glass) was published by museum in progress. This edition is part of a number of extraordinary editions that museum in progress has realised with artists such as Alighiero e Boetti, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Joan Jonas, Peter Kogler, Beatriz Milhazes, Olaf Nicolai and Carrie Mae Weems.
“My digital avatar China Tracy lives in the virtual world. In the opera house, the huge portrait resembles a quiet sculpture. China Tracy is silent and compassionate, as a Buddha statue. She silently observes the real world through the heavy layer of the stage curtain, without giving any answer.” Cao Fei
The exhibition series “Safety Curtain” is a project of museum in progress in cooperation with the Vienna State Opera and the Bundestheater-Holding.
Vienna State Opera
Opernring 2
1010 Vienna
Austria
