At the core of Gottfried Bechtold's project is his examination of the artist’s signature. Bechtold provided the Taurus locomotive with his signature; it will run on the Vienna-Bregenz-Vienna line until the end of December 2022. The Taurus project is the continuation and completion of his signature projects (Signatur 02, Staudamm, Silvrettastausee and Signatur 015, Schneeintervention Lech), in which he takes the idea of the readymade artwork to extremes and remeasures the relationship between authorship and object. The central element is the different aggregate states, potentials and energy transformations of water, based on the investigations of Leonardo da Vinci.

This exhibition will include his signature paintings, concepts, documents and video documentations, which provide a discursive platform on the relationship between artworks and artists and on the redefining the ready-made. The exhibition will be accompanied by discussions and lectures. The signature trilogy will be discussed in the context of his projects from 1971 to 2007-2009. The continuity and development of Bechtold’s commitment to key themes of our time such as mobility / immobility, speed / gravity and energy/ spirit/ matter will be examined in this context as well. Bechtold consistently works on the liberation of sculpture from its traditional boundaries by seeking new configurations between materiality and information. His work was also shown at the legendary Dokumenta 5 by Harald Szeeman.