Christoph Weber

Reverse Imagining Vienna

Christoph Weber, Nikolaus Eckhard (ed.)

Verlag für Moderne Kunst, Wien, 2025

OPEN ACCESS - DOWNLOAD (ONLY GERMAN):

Texts Volume 1 (Literature Reader) Ann Cotten, Elias Hirschl, Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Jakob Pretterhofer, Julia Grillmayr, Neslihan Yakut, Nika Pfeifer, Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz

Texts Volume 2 (Exhibition and Texts) Johannes Weber, Josepha Edbauer, Michael Wagreich, Peter Fichtinger, Sebastian Hafner, Tess Posch, Christoph Weber, Nikolaus Eckhard

Burnt Future Past, 2024

Limestone carcass (burnt limestone, Mannersdorf, quarry of cement industry), air proof glass lintel, 

stainless steel, PP rainwater pipe

22.2 kg CaO & 13 kg CO2 emissions, 130 x 43 x 43 cm 

10.6 kg CaO & 6.4 kg CO2 emissions, 125 x 43 x 43 cm

16.3 kg CaO & 9.1 kg CO2 emissions, 130 x 43 x 43 cm

For the Burnt Future Past series, limestone chunks were fired at 900° C for around 40 hours. (Traditional lime production) Limestone, which was formed in Mannersdorf am Leithagebirge 16 - 14 million years ago from red calcareous algae and shells, is therefore of organic origin and has a high proportion of bound CO2 , which is released during the firing process. Up to 40% of the weight of the stone chunks, also known as calcium carbonate (CaCO3), escapes in the form of CO2  emissions. The limestone initially retains its shape, but deep cracks appear and most of the color has escaped. This quicklime carcass (CaO) is thirsty for water and disintegrates into small pieces within a few days if it is able to extract moisture from the air. In the absence of air, however, the form remains intact and the burnt lime could be slaked at a later date. 

The work addresses the effects of burning fossil fuels and materials and the need to protect the lithosphere. Several thousand tons of limestone are blasted out of the Leitha Mountains every day for cement production, fired at 1450° C with the addition of clay to form cement clinker and finally ground into cement. Limestone extraction represents one of the largest mass movements in industrial processing, the effects on biodiversity are serious and the CO2  emissions of the cement industry amount to around 7% of global CO2  emissions.

Voracious Flux, 2024

Mannersdorf limestone chunk with drilled hole, concrete

Overall dimensions approx. (H)64 x 650 x 200 cm

In Voracious Flux, a formal connection between extraction and material flow is initially established by matching the diameter of the borehole and the thickness of the concrete worm. The hose used for the extraction of cement and now concreted into oversized worms can be read as a voracious flow of material in extractivist societies. Several thousand tons of limestone are blasted out of the Leitha Mountains every day for cement production, fired at 1450° C with the addition of clay to form cement clinker and finally ground into cement. Limestone extraction represents one of the largest mass movements in industrial processing, the effects on biodiversity are serious and the CO2 emissions of the cement industry amount to around 7% of global CO2 emissions.

Besetzt, 2024 

(referring to Julia Grillmayr and Ann Cotten)

Steel, spray paint, hammered text

Four 15 mm thick steel plates, each measuring 220 x 73 cm 

Total dimensions approx. (H)220 x 352 x 17 cm

The word “BESETZT” (occupied) is emblazoned in white spray paint on four overhead-sized steel plates leaning against the wall. Occupations of built structures are evidence of diverging social interests, but are often only short-lived in the otherwise longer existence of the contested structure. The staged distances between the four plates refer to the exploitation industry’s hold on the material, which is already inscribed in it. Unlike concrete, steel can be recycled. In our society, there is no provision for reusing a steel bridge that is no longer used for motor vehicle traffic other than melting it down. In Julia Grillmayr’s text “Alles, was hohl ist, wird früher oder später bewohnt” (Everything that is hollow will sooner or later be inhabited), the meter-high cavities of the steel supporting structure of the former highway bridge were occupied by a group that turned the buckling bridge into a pilgrimage site of the Toxic Temple. Its protagonists are Anthropocene natives who grew up with fictional archaeologies of the future. They express themselves as follows: “We have learned that we can (and must) stage the past just as we stage a possible future.” The work Besetzt is accordingly like a stage set from a present future between the time of Grillmayr’s text in 2050, which has already become past, and the year 12000 of Ann Cotton’s text segment, which hammers itself into the distant future with block letters. 

Ernst Jandl’s poem “im park” (“in the park”), in which the question “is this seat free?” is asked again and again on a park bench—”please, is this free / no, it’s taken / thank you / [...] is this free / no, it’s taken / thank you / [...] is this free / please / thank you”—refers to another aspect of “occupying.”  As discussed in the introduction to this volume, the fear of losing the future and the seemingly increasingly hopeless search for a free place in the future must be overcome. Occupying this free space describes one possibility for the visual arts and literature to engage in a process of social-ecological transformation.

support, 2024

Solnhofen limestone slab from the generally accessible floor area of the investigated Gründerzeit house, steel rod (drill extension for extraction blast holes in the Mannersdorf limestone quarry), rubber wedge, wooden wedge

Overall dimensions approx. (H)374 x 210 x 40 cm

support connects the concrete of the bridge with the floor slabs of the house - the Mannersdorf limestone from cement production with the Solnhofen slab limestone from southern Germany. In Fiston Mwanza Mujila’s text about the Gründerzeithaus, Favoritenstraße is torn into several sections by torrential rain in the year 2436. “Only the paved sidewalks (supported by long iron bars) are still there.” The work refers to this and clamps a floor slab from the Gründerzeit house with a used steel rod from the quarry in Mannersdorf from below against a beam and a wall in the exhibition space. The rod is an extension for the drill used to drill holes 10 cm thick and up to 20 m deep into the limestone mountain, into which the explosives for the extraction are placed. 

The gesture of pressing also refers to the other typical use of Solnhofen slab limestone - lithography.