Thomas Geiger
Thomas Geiger (*1983) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Vienna. Using performance, sculpture and language, his works mediate between different times, places and entities. In Bust Talks, Geiger holds conversations with public busts and statues, helping them unfold their experiences and views in the present. In his performance series The Pigeons, these very birds have their say in various cities and present manifestos and speeches on the subject of public space. Being Kunsthalle Wien guides the audience through the unconscious of the institution. And Dreams that money can buy is a dreamed group show that itself comes directly from the unconscious of the dreaming artist. Geiger’s work suspends classical delineations of public, private, and institutional space and offers new moments of experience within the familiar.
Works
Bust Talks (Sphinx), 2023, Belvedere, Vienna, performance + video installation, 18:39 min
Bust Talks (Kifwebe), 2019, performance + video installation, 18:52 min
Bust Talks (Illumina), 2021, Biennale für Freiburg, performance + video installation, 25:22 min
Bust Talks (Ecker), 2021, Biennale für Freiburg, performance + video installation, 25:22 min
Bust Talks (Hans Kloepfer), 2019, performance + video installation, 26:00 min
Some Great Europeans (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), 2019 C-Print, 30 × 45 cm
Some Great Europeans (Cristiano Ronaldo), 2019 C-Print, 30 × 45 cm
Some Great Europeans (Winston Churchill), 2019, C-Print, 30 × 45 cm
Le Pigeon, 2022, CAC Brétigny, performance + video installation, 18:18min
Güvercin, 2023, Goethe Institut Istanbul, performance + video installation, 15:48min
Die Taube, 2023, Kunstverein Siegen, performance + video installation, 13:03 min
Falling (Peter Paul Rubens, The Fall of Icarus, 1636), video, 2:06min, 2020
Falling (Bas Jan Ader, Broken Fall Geometric, 1971), video, 2:06min, 2020
Falling (Peter Land, Step Ladder Blues, 1990), video, 2:06min, 2020
I want to become a millionaire, since 2010, performance + sign + signed and numbered sheets, 10.5 × 14.5 cm. Since 2010, Thomas Geiger is selling stamped and signed sheets with a sequential number for 1€ each. What started as a street performance, became a private funding system that supports his collabora- tive projects which are dedicated to public space and publishing. To date, he has raised more than 35.000€.
Kunsthalle3000–Paris, 2018, ready-made institution in public space, dimensions and duration variable
Kunsthalle3000–Nice, 2019, ready-made institution in public space, dimensions and duration variable
Kunsthalle3000, since 2016, ready-made institution in public space, dimensions and duration variable. Kunsthalle3000 is an institution as intervention that seeks to transform the unused potentials of the public realm into new situations. Geiger declares specific spots within public space as Kunsthalle to create an intensive, yet temporary “space” for performance, discussion, confrontation and interchange in collaboration with local artists. To date, Kunsthalle3000 has been located in Nice, Vienna, Johan- nesburg, Geneva, Beirut and Paris. Image: Kunsthalle3000–Johannesburg, 2016
Corners for Relief (No. 5, Back), 2019
Corners for Relief (No. 5), 2019, Sculpting Clay, Filth, 16 × 12 × 11 cm. 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.
Private Monuments (A stage for your self-enchancement), 2017, concrete pavement tiles, adhesive letters, 95,5 × 80 × 8 cm
Private Monuments (A stage to empty your pockets), 2017 Concrete pavement tiles, adhesive letters, 60 × 70 × 8 cm
Private Monuments (A stage for heels only), 2017 concrete pavement tiles, adhesive letters, 35,5 × 41,5 × 8 cm. Private Monuments is a series of eight sculptures based on holes of missing bricks on public squares. As a positive 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.
Skulptuerchen, 2015/16, stolen doorstops, dimensions variable
Skulptuerchen, 2015/16, stolen doorstops, dimensions variable
Jardín Land Art de La Tigra (La Tigra Land Art Garten), performance + 13 photographies, 2018. 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: During the Réunion Performance Festival Geiger gave an iconic photography of a famous Land Art work to each participant and invited them to recreate the work within this new environment. Photo: Sandino Scheidegger
Jardín Land Art de La Tigra (Joseph Beuys - 500 Oaks), 2018 C-Print, 30 × 45 cm
Jardín Land Art de La Tigra (Michael Heizer, Rift), 2018 C-Print, 30 × 45 cm
Jardín Land Art de La Tigra (Udo Rondinone, Seven Magic Mountains), 2018 C-Print, 30 × 45 cm
Water Yump, 2018, performance + C-print, various dimensions. Water Yump 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 Geiger 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 & Buero Basel, curated by Benedikt Wyss. Photo by Nicolas Gysin.
Das Brett, 2014, video, 1:15 min. Three kids trying to kick through a blank which leans against a house wall.
A valve for a spontaneous aggression (Basel), 2014 Broken plank, dimensions variable. This series of broken planks is a result of an action Geiger executed at various places: He leaned planks against house walls. Some time later, he returned to these spots and found most of the planks kicked through and broken
A valve for a spontaneous aggression (Lucerne), 2014, broken plank, dimensions variable
Exhibitions
Happiest Places, Kunstverein Siegen 2023
Happiest Places, Kunstverein Siegen 2023
Happiest Places, Kunstverein Siegen 2023
Dreams that money can buy, Sperling, Munich 2022
Dreams that money can buy, Sperling, Munich 2022
The Ghost is present, Sperling, Munich, DE 2021
The Ghost is present, Sperling, Munich, DE 2021
El masestar en un espacio sin gravedad (Thomas Geiger and Javier Gonzalez Pesce), MAC, Santiago de Chile (CL) 2019
El masestar en un espacio sin gravedad (Thomas Geiger and Javier Gonzalez Pesce), MAC, Santiago de Chile (CL) 2019
Festival of Minimal Actions, Despacio, San Jose (CR) performance project, 2014/15 & 2018
Festival of Minimal Actions, Despacio, San Jose (CR) performance project, 2014/15 & 2018
Private Monuments, Sperling, Munich, DE 2017
Private Monuments, Sperling, Munich, DE 2017
Selected Solo Exhibitions
- Dreams that money can buy, ANNA, Leipzig, DE
2022
- The Ghost is Present, Sperling, DE
2021
- Mutter, Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel, CH
2020
- Kunsthalle3000 – A fragment of your public space, one-year project, Kunstverein Langenhagen, DE
- El masestar en un espacio sin gravedad, with Javier Pesce, MAC, Santiago de Chile, CL
2019
- Festival of Minimal Actions, Despacio, San José, CRI
- Bricks to Perform, La Construccion, Guatemala City, GA
2018
Selected Group Exhibitions
- Public Matters, Belvedere, Vienna, AT
- Happiest Places, Kunstverein Siegen, DE
2023
- Locus Solos, Arter, Istanbul, TUR
- The Real Show, CAC Brétigny, FR
2022
- What can be shown, cannot be said, LE CAP, Lyon, FR
- Kiss, Kunsthalle Wien, AT
2020
- Hauptsache Kopf, Kunsthalle Emden, DE
- Nature\nature, Kunstraum Niederösterreich, AT
2019
- Der erweiterte Blick, Kunstverein Langenhagen, DE
- The Laughable Enigma of Ordinary Life, Arquipélago, Azores, PT
2018
Publications
- Thomas Geiger: The Dematerialization of the Arts (for Kids) , 2020 ↗
- Thomas Geiger: Peeing in Public, 2020 ↗
- Thomas Geiger: Die Moderatorin, 2019
- Thomas Geiger: The Collection for the poor Collector, 2018 ↗
- Thomas Geiger: Bricks to Perform , 2017 ↗
- Thomas Geiger: Bilder aus der Denkmaschine / Images from the Thinking Machine , 2013 ↗
Press
- stir world: 'Kunsthalle3000' and Thomas Geiger’s artistic interventions in public, Vidur Sethi, 2022 ↗
- Monopol Magazin: Küss mich: In Wien untersucht Künstler Thomas Geiger die Intimität, by Miriam Hinternesch, 2020 ↗
- POPP: Interview with Thomas Geiger, by Julia Moebus, 2020 ↗
- Artline: Der in Wien lebende Künstler bringt Statuen zum Sprechen, by Leon Hösl, 2020 ↗
- Monopol Magazin: Ephemere Erinnerungsräume, Christoph Sehl, 2017 ↗
- Artline: Thomas Geiger – Die Arbeiten des Wiener Künstlers sind Bühnen für Koinzidenzen, Anette Hoffmann, 2017 ↗
Being Kunsthalle Wien, A guided tour into the subconscious of the institution. 2022
Thomas Geiger, Fallen Die Putte, 2020
Thomas Geiger, Bust Talk - Kifwebe, 2018, video, 18:52 min