Special opening hours due to short duration

2024 marks the tenth anniversary of Hannes Schwarz's death and 2026 would be the 100th anniversary of his birth. These two commemorative years form the temporal framework for a series of carefully coordinated yet independent events entitled Gegenwelten, which are intended to recall the work and influence of this outstanding painter and profound thinker.

The subject of the exhibition is Schwarz' home as an ‘open house’. Hannes Schwarz and his family spent a large part of his life in a house with an integrated studio in the eastern Styrian town of Weiz, designed by the Werkgruppe Graz. This fine building, characterised by Asian influences, is not only a fine example of post-war modernism in Styria in the 1960s. It also forms a bracket for numerous stories from the founding phase of Forum Stadtpark.

Photos and videos by Richard Frankenberger, Julia Gaisbacher, Christian Jungwirth, Martin Krusche, Kurt Lamberger, Rudi Molacek, Peter Philipp, Franz Sattler, Eckart Schuster, Helmut Tezak and unknown photographers. In two panel discussions, the cultural-political situation in Styria in the years after the Second World War and the prehistory of the Forum Stadtpark as well as the present and future-relevant significance of (semi-)public and private art and cultural venues with their artist groups will be examined.

Hannes Schwarz - like other protagonists of the young cultural scene in Graz at the time - was a pupil at an elite National Socialist educational establishment in his youth. It is remarkable to see the energy with which the young protagonists of the time faced up to their own biographies and, with their artistic work and cultural commitment, made a significant contribution to opening up, coming to terms with their personal traumas and overcoming the social rigidity characterised by the Nazi regime.