Peeing in Public

Public urination is a battle, played out on fields economical, political, technological and sexual. Moreover, it is one battle fought continuously within the sphere of gender; gender equality, gender identity and gender-based violence. The question of when, where and how is certainly a preoccupation for all kinds of people. Peeing in Public brings together peeing experts from different fields, such as Rembrandt van Rijn, the Roman Emperor Vespasian, Xi Jinping or Melissa Gates. Watch video

Performance, Kunstverein Kevin Space, Vienna, 2021
Publication, Mark Pezinger Books, 2020

Money Talks

A 3-parted Talk Show hosted by Capitalism: Capitalism is in crisis, and nobody knows this better than capitalism itself. Eager to get out of its present malaise, capitalism seeks out three people who might be of help: A psychoanalyst, a child and a theologian. Watch videos

Video performances, 25-40min
Commissioned and produced by steirischer Herbst, 2020

Some Great Europeans

Chandigarh is the earliest planned city in India, designed by Le Corbusier. As such, it is stamped with the modernist European visions of scientific rationalism, efficiency and social improvement through design. Some Great Europeans took place in front of the Art Museum, one of the Le Corbusier buildings. Visitors were invited to interpret an image from a series of photographs, all of which show public statues of some “great” Europeans. The freedom offered by parody, a moment in which history, monumentality, becomes theirs to embody.

Performance + 16-parted photo series, 2019
Images: Mozart, Winston Churchill, Marie Curie, Miguel de Cervantes, Sissi

Falling

There are many falling men (it seems always to be men) within the arts. A special subject, however, is the falling artist: Daedalus and Ikarus, Buster Keaton, Yves Klein and of course Bas Jan Ader. This video performance brings together the most famous falls in a new setting - not only as gestures of failure, but also as aesthetic and sporting phenomena. Watch video

Video performance, 2:06min
Performer: Jan Pienitzsch, 2020

Kunsthalle3000

Kunsthalle3000 is an institution as intervention that is declaring specific spots within public space as Kunsthalle to create an intensive, yet temporary locale for performance, discussion, confrontation and interchange. To date, Kunsthalle3000 has been located in Vienna, Paris, Johannesburg, Geneva, Beirut, Nice and was a one-year guest at Kunstverein Langenhagen. Website

Project in public space, since 2016

Festival of Minimal Actions

To repeat a past action within a new context, means to create a new impact: As a Festival of Minimal Actions I re-perform existing works by other artists in public space allowing to rediscover artworks and their meaning in a new environment and to reflect on accessibility, reproducibility and authorship. Website

Performance project, since 2014
Brussels (beursschouwburg), 2014; Paris, 2015; San José (Despacio), 2018; Vienna (Kunsthalle Wien), 2020
Photos: Re-performances of works by Fredy Solano, Sergio Rojas Chaves, Javier Calvo, Pilar Quinteros, Adan Vallecillo.

La Tigra Land Art Garden

In the secluded nature of the Hondurian La Tigra forest, a garden was created that follows the idea of miniature gardens reflecting the secular and the high culture: Together with the participants of the La Tigra Performance Festival, we created a garden of famous Land Art works which are usually widely scattered and difficult to reach.

Performance + 14-parted photo series, 30 × 45cm, 2018
Photos: Sandino Scheidegger

Water Yump – A swimming ensemble

Water Yump is a performance that pays homage to Fluxus artist George Brecht and his work Water Yam, a collection of printed paper cards that invited readers to enact the small actions proposed by each card. For Water Yump I invited the audience to enact works by 12 fellow artists and to create together a “swimming ensemble” in the Rhine river. What started as a drained choreography in front of Museum Tinguely floated down the Rhine river for 45min.

Museum Tinguely Basel, cur. by Benedikt Wyss, 2018
Photos by Nicolas Gysin.

Living Room Demonstrations

This performance brings an activity that is generally staged in public space into the private sphere of people’s apartments. What starts as a conversation and discussion about demonstrations and the individual experiences, leads to a privately enacted demonstration by the residents inside the comfort of their home.

Fondation d'entreprise Ricard Paris, 2018 & Homesick Festival Vienna, 2018

marché pour l'unité

The left and right shoes of 4 pairs were placed at two different booths at a flea market. Whoever wanted to buy the pair of shoes had to find the second shoe. After the successful purchase, one becomes the owner of a piece of art that is activated every time the shoe is worn.
All shoes were sold for 20CHF. Buyers received a certificate of authenticity.

Dim-Sun, Lausanne, 2018

Cent fons pour Saint-Fonts [100 fountains for Saint-Fons]

This work was created for LE CAP in Saint-Fons. The work is based on the name of the city Saint-Fons which is not referring to a “holy Fons” but rather means Cents–Fons (hundred fountains). Apparently the area was rich of fresh water and natural sources. Today, Saint-Fons is an industrial suburb not really associated with an abundance of fresh water. My work is an invitation to the visitors to remember this humid past for a very short moment: Take a balloon with you and create a fountain.

Exhibition view: LE CAP, Saint--Fons, 2021

Corners for Relief

Where can one go when one has to? What do you do when you’re not allowed? These small corner-shaped sculptures are modelled forms of popular peeing corners from public space and can be considered anti-monuments to this topic. Peeing corners may be a result of the lack of public toilets, but they still owe to the fact that ‘men can’ and are a demonstration of male privilege within the public sphere.

8-parted sculpture series, 2019
Exhibition view: Sperling, Munich

Private Monuments

Private Monuments is a series of eight sculptures based on holes of missing bricks on public squares. As the positive forms of the original holes, they create fragments of public space within a new environment. Eight dedications can be found as instructions to activate these Private Monuments with momentary gestures that are an echo of the daily life on public squares.

7-parted sculpture series, various dimensions, 2017

Bretter (Planks))

I leaned planks against house walls. Later, I returned to these spots and found most of the planks kicked through and broken.
The sculpture series is based on the readymade video of the same name.

10-parted object series, 2014/15
Exhibition view: Ausstellungsraum Klingental, 2016

Skulptuerchen

Stolen doorstops holding one single door open.

Multi-parted sculpture series, dimensions variable, edition 3: Brussels shops, 2014/15; Swiss houses, 2015/16; Paris Art institutions, 2022
Exhibition view: Bonbonniere Offenbach, 2021

I looked on my head from above (Audio)

Originally developed as a written text, in this Audio version a speaker calmly performs a rendition of the text which consists of a succession of terse, matter-of-fact one-sentence descriptions of performances and actions by famous artists. Each sentence beginning with the first-person pronoun ‘I’, giving the impression that the speaker's admission of responsibility is both a confession and a boast.

Text work, 2010
Audio work, 24min, 2016

Thinking Machine

Thinking Machines have a long tradition in history. Their use is based on creating rational knowledge and philosophical investigation through the principle of chance. My Thinking Machine consists of three turning discs, each with 50 words. By spinning the wheels, I receive a combination of 3 words that stays with me throughout the day and serves as the basis for my visualization. The Thinking Machine is a continuous part of my daily routine, as well as an elemental part of my teaching practice. There is a publication giving an insight into this work.

Object, prints and publication, since 2007

Bookcoverobjects

A sculpture series made from book covers that have literally been transformed into the meaning of the book's title. A new narrative emerges between title and representation.

Sculpture series, various dimensions, 2009-2012
Exhibition view: Arter, Istanbul, 2022

Artist’s Books

Book(lets) created since 2009 – still the best way to share ideas and to make artworks accessible and affordable. Based on my interest in this medium, Mark Pezinger Books emerged, a publishing house that I run together with Graphic Designer Astrid Seme. Most of my works are published with Mark Pezinger Books except “The Collection for the Poor Collector” and “Die Moderatorin” which are published with Edition Taube.