Bonaparte
University of Vienna, 2010
What is Bonaparte? The collective from Germany, France, Switzerland, Panama, America, Mexico, New Zealand, Austria, Sweden, Poland & Brazil headquartered in Berlin may well speak for itself: “read this before: if you book us you DON’T really get 21 people and 12 disturbed animals and a real elephant because you wouldn’t be ready for that, we’d need a house, a chef de cuisine, a gardener, a doctor and a pool – in short an entire hotel ***** – and also a huge old rokoko theater to perform in. since you don’t have all of that…. what you DO get is: a show with plus/minus 8 people from the collective risking their private and public lifes for you, dressed as animals or wurst and a loud concert somewhere im grenzbereich and mucho fun fun fun! so book us! (btw. a hot pool would be cool nevertheless).” It’s trash, it’s zeitgeist, it’s music! It’s what you want to see when you wander around in Vienna on a grey Friday noon, thinking: “Is this it?” and then bump into these megalomaniacs claiming “Boycott Everything” or simply “Too Much” when performing at the imposing entrance of the University of Vienna. Too much action for the police, but soooo much fun!
- Photography
- Simon Brugner
- Artist
- Bonaparte
University of Vienna
Founded in 1365, the University of Vienna is not only the oldest still existing university in German-speaking countries, but with 86.000 students also the biggest one. The main building is located on Ringstraße in close proximity to all the other monumental 19th-century landmarks (such as the Burgtheater, Town Hall, Parliament, etc.). Not every student has to pass through the gates of the 1884-opened main building every day, though, as departments are spread across the city, with notable concentrations in the newer NIG and on the campus grounds of the former main hospital. In October 2009, the Auditorium Maximum (Audimax) of the University of Vienna was the main site of huge student protests against educational policy, with students occupying the lecture hall, organising work groups, talks and cultural programmes for two months.