The work of Hans Schabus, who was born in Watschig in Carinthia in 1970 and who recently finished his studies at the Academy for Fine Arts, is characterised by the mutual interrelationships between interior and exterior, private and public life or furniture and human beings.

Hans Schabus has conceived an installation for the Vienna Secession with the double title "The Face in the Wall. A Door is a Table is a Bed". It is spread over two exhibition spaces: the Ver Sacrum Room on the Ground Floor and the Graphic Cabinet on the First Floor. Wooden panelling mounted on the facade of the Secession will darken the windows and form a visual link between both spaces. It also indicates their respective positions, i.e. one above the other. Daylight enters through 24 small circular apertures and creates a diffuse atmosphere. The effect of intimacy and privacy in the interior spaces caused by the panelling is undermined by the doors (which would close each space on the inside) being laid on trestles in the middle of each room. The door becomes a table in the Ver Sacrum Room and a bed in the Graphic Cabinet. A stool invites the viewer to sit, so that he can use a microphone and hence to establish a relationship between himself and the installation.

Both installations will be accompanied by a brochure designed by Hans Schabus. This mirrors the 24 apertures of the wooden panelling with 12 pairs of eyes. A discussion between Hans Schabus and Jakob Kosta is devoted to the work shown in the Secession.