Sex club in Viennese art museum sparks scandal

Mar 18, 2010, 14:53 GMT

Vienna - A trip to the Austrian capital to see Gustav Klimt's Beethoven Frieze will without doubt be a memorable occasion as the room where the work of art is situated has been turned into a temporary swinger club. The frieze is housed in the Secession Building which is staging a very provocative art exhibition that has aroused mixed reactions in Vienna.

Together with Swiss artist Christoph Buechel, the building's management have opened a 'room for sex culture.' Partner swapping, S&M machinery, manacle blocks and gynaecological stools are just a few of the project's elements that have disconcerted visitors who came to see Klimt's masterpiece.

'I'm shocked! What exactly is this place?' said one elderly visitor from Rome as she shook her head. 'I think it has more to do with our age group,' counters her companion. 'Young people look upon this with different eyes.'

The owners of the swinger club Element6 have been invited to move their premises into the building for two months. On opening day there were plenty of visitors. 'Over 100 people came, most of them were our regular customers,' says Michael, who has been running the club for the past two years. 'And there was plenty of action to see,' adds his wife Gabi with a smile.

'After the publicity we have received in the last few weeks dies down we expect to get a more mixed public including people who are curious to see what a swinger club is like but were too afraid to visit one,' says the club's owner. 'We're also trying to shake off the grubby image that most people have about sex clubs.' Michael says a swinger club is mainly about flirting, eroticism, fantasy and frivolity.

Buechel spent many weeks preparing the exhibition and was already known for his provocative form of art. But what exactly is his aim this time? 'I think he wanted to show a link between the uproar that accompanied the erotic images of Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka and the times we live in today,' says Urte Schmitt-Ulms, the Secession Building's spokeswoman.

In reaction to the liberalisation of attitudes towards sex at the beginning of the 20th century in Vienna an 'Association for the Encouragement of Proper Morals' was founded with the aim of countering the Jugendstil art form's use of the naked body. 'Buechel's goal with the swinger club is to re-create the same situation that existed back then and you cannot do that today with a picture,' says Gabi.

Buechel's cause has certainly managed to spark plenty of uproar in Vienna where the rightwing FPO party has been campaigning against the exhibition. 'Gangbang parties and domina rooms have nothing to do with art and certainly nothing to do with culture,' says FPO politician Gerald Ebinger. The party's culture spokeswoman, Heidemarie Unterreiner, has talked of a 'negative spiral of Nihilism and perversion.'

However, most art enthusiasts that visited the Secession Building and found themselves standing between the erotic wall paintings of Austrian artist Robert Krutisch and the swinger club's patrons have reacted positively. 'I have not heard any critical comments,' said a reporter from Austrian television who interviewed visitors.

Entering the exhibition is like walking into a normal nightclub with a bar, a DJ stand and black leather sofas. If not for the small bedrooms with leopardskin cushions, Kleenex boxes, whirlpool, sauna, gynaecology chairs, strip-show program and sex toy presentations, nothing would seem out of the ordinary. Visitors to the exhibition can test their willingness to experiment until April 18 when Element6 is due to move out.