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The Austrian sculptor Peter Sandbichler (born 1964, in Kufstein, Austria) tends to oscillate, in his work, between the plane and the three-dimensional, between picture and sculpture. A characteristic feature of his works is their additional function as carriers of aesthetic and socio- cultural significations. His interest, besides, extends to the relationship between the modes of construction and function of objects as an expression of the interplay between formally constructive and political concerns. As the third artist in the MUMOK series Out Site he conceptualised two politically connoted works for the open courtyard of the Museum Quarter.

'unbowed and unafraid', 2009
The eight-metre-tall wooden sculpture adheres to a logic of disturbance. Sandbichler puts on display a watchtower-like billboard, upon which an abstract structure and a concrete message interlace in mutual dependence. What looks, from up close, purely like a grid of various shapes, discloses, when seen from a distance and in daytime, a portrait of the Sri Lankan journalist and peace activist Lasantha Wickrematunge. During the night the tower is lit up from inside, casting an inverse image of the portrait, thus turning into an abstract sculpture of light. The title, unbowed and unafraid, refers to a political webpage dedicated to Lasantha Wickrematunge. Wickrematunge was shot dead in Colombo on 8 January, 2009 by as yet undisclosed perpetrators. (less info)