#michael sarff

The Cool Conceptualism of Artworks at Absolute Zero

Solvent transfer drawing for South First’s Group Material Unrealized Proposals show. List of 10 things I know about Austria and image from my hotel room in Leondig from 2007  GROUP MATERIAL: REACTIVATING THREE “UNREALIZED” PROPOSALS  10 vague things I learned on my only trip to Austria in the Fall of 2005 and then remembered nine years later on the occasion of SOUTHFIRST Gallery’s re-activation of the unrealized curatorial proposal North/South of Bounds, reinterpreted as American/Austrian Boundaries, from the artist-run collective Group Material (1979-1996) 1. Cotton candy is called candyfloss.  2. Grown men, in general, do not wear shorts in Austria unless you count Lederhosen.  3. I was told and I agreed that Americans do not know how to say goodbye.  4. Everyone used the slang “Zuper” to describe something good as in “This beer is Zuper!”.  5. Celebrating your 38th birthday alone in a street cafe in Vienna can be perfect.  6. Vienna is the English name for Wien.  7. As the shouting match in the train station confirmed, Germans and Austrians do not necessarily get along.  8. When in doubt, talk about music.  9. Most people I knew in New York had not been to Austria, most people I met in Austria had been to New York.  10. If new drinking buddy promises at 2am to pick you up from the hotel and take you to the airport at 7am sharp, you might want a backup plan.