designed by Vito Acconci, 2002, for the “Vito” café on the “Island in the Mur ” in Graz, Austria, steel tube matt chromed , gray coated wood with inserted gray formica to the top, the seats upholstered and covered with blue synthetic fabric, table: height 104 cm, approx.. 104 x 104 cm (of irregular triangular form), high chair: height 104 cm, width approx. 46 cm, depth approx. 52 cm, height of seat 81 cm. (DRAX)

These items were exclusively designed for the “Vito” café, which was furnished with altogether eleven high tables, 44 bar stools and eight lower tables for a surrounding upholstered bench. The curved triangular shape of the table echos the yin yang theme and corresponds with the shape of the high chairs seats and generally refers to the architectural concept of the building.

Lit.:
Building a Island. Vito Acconci / Acconci Studio, Mur Island, Graz/Austria, Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2003

Provenance:
”Vito” café, “Island in the Mur”, Graz, Austria, stored since 2007

THE ISLAND IN THE MUR
“The Island in the Mur”, commissioned by Graz 2003, Cultural Capital of Europe was designed by artist Vito Acconci. Asked to create an open-air cultural facility to float on the Mur river in the heart of Graz in Austria, Acconci designed a sculptural steel pod that is connected by two gently curving ramps to the riverbanks. The island idea was conceived of by Robert Punkenhofer, a Graz-based curator and head of the firm Art&Idea, as a way to incorporate the river in the year-long festival and connect the two sides of the city which are bisected by this 275 mile-long international channel of water that runs through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary.
The almost 5,000-square-foot Island that was three years in the making incorporates an open-air-theater with 300 seats for performances, the “Vito” café and a children’s playground. Rather than simply placing an orthogonal platform on the water as is more customary, Acconci devised an elegant, fluid form constructed from a latticework of 320-tons of steel and glass. Its sensual form, two shell-like structures, one closed and one open, creating the various spaces, was not only generated by the programmatic needs but by environmental pragmatic requirements. The boat-like structure was designed to allow for the flow of the river and to withstand possible floods.
Acconci describes the concept: “One space twists and turns and warps to become the other. A dome twists and turns upside down to become a bowl, while the bowl twists and turns upside down to become a dome.” The amphitheatre is located in the bowl and the café is situated within the enclosed dome. Where the two forms intersect is the children’s playground, a landscape that at points rises and envelopes the roof of the café. “The functions are mixed,” explains Acconci. “There’s no hierarchy, no boundaries, no separation between inside and outside; the user decides for himself/herself where to set the limits. The play-ground overhead.” “Walk through a dome that twists & warps into a bowl that twists & warps into a dome, etc. Sit inside a café-dome & a playground (transition). And sit inside a bowl (theatre).”
(Vito Acconci)

© Harry Schiffer

© Acconci Studio, Mur Island, Graz/Austria, Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2003, pp. 18-19