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The next exhibition in the BA-CA Kunstforum is opening its doors with the title »wann immer vorerst – gather the day« on Tuesday 4 September, presenting works from the art collection of the Bank Austria Creditanstalt (BA-CA) – one of the foremost private collections of Austrian art since 1945.
The BA-CA collection is the result of an intensive collecting tradition lasting 60 years. Key focuses of the BA-CA collection are on painting, photography and actionism. The BA-CA also has a special interest since 2003 in the multifaceted and extraordinarily exciting art market in Central and Eastern Europe.

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The Exhibition

The exhibition title »wann immer vorerst – gather the day« is taken from a work by Michael Kienzer and may act as the premise upon which collectors work: the endeavour to discover and acquire important works before the general art market pounces upon them.
The exhibition title is also reflected in the works on show, among them many that were purchased early on from Austrian artists who have meanwhile become famous – for instance Herbert Brandl, Bruno Gironcoli, Franz West and Maria Lassnig. Works by these artists were bought before they had hit the international art market with major solo exhibitions.

Numerous works among the 80 exhibits are being shown for the first time. These works, too, highlight the fact that from the very start the BA-CA Collection has followed the principle of »timely recognition« - recognising artistic potential before a wider public was aware of it.

Thus the exhibition boasts names like Diane Arbus, Duane Michals, Ed Ruscha, John Baldessari and William Wegman, whose works, based on a conceptual level, are being continued in Erwin Wurm, Lois Renner, Hans Schabus and Lois Weinberger. Internationally renowned artists, among them Hermann Nitsch, Valie Export, Elke Krystufek, Gelitin and Franz West, are verifications of the diverse artistic formations and movements represented in the collection.
These include abstract art, with Hubert Scheibl, Otto Zitko, Erwin Bohatsch, and its wholly individual interpretation through Michael Kienzer and Rudolf Polanszky, also the approach to figurative painting by the internationally well-known artist duo Muntean Rosenblum, Alois Mosbacher, Maja Vukoje and Ramesh Daha. Meanwhile, constructive art in Austria is represented by Gerwald Rockenschaub, Walter Obholzer, Karl-Heinz Ströhle, Christian Hutzinger and more.
Last but not least, another major part of the BA-CA art collection is on show for the first time with a wide range of sculptural works by Franz West, Brigitte Kowanz, Roland Kollnitz, Werner Feiersinger and Marko Lulic.
All in all, the exhibition presents a comprehensive view of the artistic development of Austria in recent years.

From a collection of contemporary Austrian art to a collection of European dimension

The expansion in BA-CA operations into Central and Eastern Europe has meant that the BACA collection has successfully evolved from an Austrian into a Central European collection BA-CA subsidiary banks in numerous Eastern European countries are likewise collecting local contemporary art and have thus continually widened the focus of the BA-CA collection. Since the fusion with the UniCredit Group, a European component has been added as well: the UniCredit Group collections in Italy, Austria, Germany, and Central and Eastern Europe include around 50,000 works ranging from the Renaissance to the present, whether by Italian masters like Canaletto and Tinotretto or modern masters such as Yves Klein, Ferdinand Leger, Kurt Schwitters Gerhard Richter, and so forth. They thus illustrate the European dimension of the UniCredit Group as one of the leading providers of financial services in Europe on the artistic level.