On October 4, Bank Austria Park on the Old Danube in Vienna, designed by André Heller, will open. One of the 14 artworks installed there is Ugo Rondinone's sculpture “vienna mountain,” which the artist developed specifically for this location. 
The work is 7.34 meters high and consists of four boulders stacked on top of each other and held in place by a solid rod inside. It is part of a series that began in 2016 with the seven-part installation “seven magic mountains” in Ivanpah Valley near Las Vegas and continued in numerous other locations (including Liverpool, Wolfsburg, Miami, and Doha). Ugo Rondinone was inspired to create his “mountains” by hoodoos, bizarre rock formations that occur mainly in the USA. 
Like the other works in the series, “vienna mountain” evokes multiple associations, such as statues, totems, needles, figures, columns and towers. The sculpture also brings to mind stone cairns, which people have been building since time immemorial in all places on earth where stones are found – a universal and archaic phenomenon. In contrast to these testimonies of human expression, which usually only exist for a short time, the elements in Rondinone's “vienna mountain” could not be arranged in this way without static support; they suggest a precarious balance. 
In this way, they reject the naturalness of traditional land art, as do the neon paintwork in the primary colors blue, yellow, and red, as well as black. Thus, “vienna mountain” does not blend into its surroundings, but stands out, creating its own space for and around itself. This effect is enhanced in the dark: illuminated from below, the sculpture takes on a mysterious aura and appears like a monumental ritual site. 
In the context of the park, vienna mountain creates a connection between the natural surroundings of the Donauinsel (Danube Island) and Kahlenberg and the urban architecture of buildings such as the Donauturm (Danube Tower). Like many of Ugo Rondinone's works, this one also refers to the archaic and universal as well as to the man-made. 

— Nina Schedlmayer