Kunsthaus Bregenz
The Kunsthaus Bregenz (KUB) presents temporary exhibitions of international contemporary art in Bregenz, capital of the Austrian Federal State of Vorarlberg. Commissioned by the State of Vorarlberg and designed by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, it was built between 1990 and 1997.
Exhibitions
The Kunsthaus Bregenz is one of Europe’s leading galleries for contemporary art both architecturally and in terms of its program. The KUB Arena located on the ground floor, along with three vertical floors, offers 1,880 m² of exhibition space. The Kunsthaus exhibits works by international contemporary artists who generally create art work specifically for the Kunsthaus. The KUB also has its own collection with two core areas: “Archive Art Architecture” and “Contemporary Austrian Art.” Select works of exhibiting artists have been expanding the latter part of the collection since 2009.
The KUB not only addresses international concerns with its exhibitions and projects, but also helps shape the cultural identity of Vorarlberg with regional projects. Noteworthy examples are Gottfried Bechtold’s “Signatur 02” at the Silvretta dam, the American artist Jenny Holzer’s “Truth Before Power” (2004), involving the projection of large-format texts onto architectural and natural monuments in Vorarlberg, or, from August 2010 through April 2012, the British sculptor Antony Gormley’s landscape project “Horizon Field.”
Apart from extensive and prestigious shows in its main exhibition spaces, the KUB also runs projects with a processual and interdisciplinary bias in the KUB Arena. Conceived as a discursive interface between architecture and work, this art and art educational platform is located on the ground floor of the Kunsthaus.
Alongside its exhibitions, the Kunsthaus offers an extensive educational program. The Kunsthaus Bregenz publishes work-relevant books, collections of essays, and catalogues, often in close collaboration with exhibiting artists and designers such as Walter Nikkels or Stefan Sagmeister. Exclusive special editions for the Kunsthaus Bregenz are an outcome of the close collaboration between artists and their exhibition production.
History
The KUB opened in July 1997 with an exhibition by the American artist James Turrell. Edelbert Köb, founding director of the Kunsthaus Bregenz, was succeeded by Eckhard Schneider (2000–2008) and Yilmaz Dziewior (2009 - 2015). Austrian born Thomas D. Trummer has been director of the Kunsthaus Bregenz since May 1, 2015.
Architecture
The art museum stands in the light of Lake Constance. It is made of glass and steel and a cast concrete stone mass which endows the interior of the building with texture and spatial composition. From the outside, the building looks like a lamp. It absorbs the changing light of the sky, the haze of the lake, it reflects light and color and gives an intimation of its inner life according to the angle of vision, the daylight, and the weather.
— Peter Zumthor, [1]
Majestically impervious to the external gaze, the glass-sheathed cube standing on the shore of Lake Constance has been an aesthetic presence in Vorarlberg for ten years.
— – Neue Zürcher Zeitung, August 3, 2007
The Kunsthaus Bregenz was designed by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, 2009 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate, and winner of the Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture in 1998. The KUB has since received numerous distinctions for its method of construction. One of the major modern art galleries worldwide, it is a fine example of architectural minimalism. Distinguished by its imposing external form and unwavering spatial concept, the building was conceived as a daylight museum. Swiss architect Peter Zumthor’s design, in his own words, aimed at fulfilling an art gallery’s chief function: to be a place for art and a place where people can peacefully encounter art. For artists exhibiting at the KUB, the architecture is a measure and conceptual stimulus for their projects, especially when entire new series of works are being produced. The architecture is an indispensable platform for the KUB’s international exhibition program.
Location
The KUB is a prominent solitary construction in downtown Bregenz near the vorarlberg museum and Vorarlberger Landestheater and not far from the lakefront. Together with the Landestheater it frames an open square between the old town and the lake.[2]
Façade
The façade consists of 712 finely etched equally sized glass panels weighing some 250 kg each,[3] secured by clips to a steel framework. These panels form a free-standing, light-diffusing skin, independent of the actual building, that serves to initially refract the incident daylight and conduct it to the light ceilings in the exhibition halls. At dark, the artificial lighting from the interior shines through inner light bands and outer skin to show the building’s interior life. The gap between light skin and building accommodates servicing equipment. Artists exhibiting at the KUB have sometimes made use of the façade in their installations.[2]
Interior
Materials distinguish the interior, with exposed unpainted concrete visibly dominating. The floors and stairways are of polished terrazzo, the walls and ceilings of exposed unpolished concrete. The ground floor accommodates foyer, checkroom, cashier’s desk, and catalogue sales, although most of its almost 500 m2 is used as a multifunctional exhibiting space for KUB Arena projects. Aside from its etched glass outer walls, three differently positioned concrete wall-slabs are visible on the ground floor. These support the Kunsthaus floors and ceilings, structuring the exhibition space on all three upper stories and dividing it from the main stairways, emergency exits, and passenger and freight elevators. Uniformly positioned entrances and exits structure a route through ground floor and upper stories. The latter differ only in ceiling height; each can be used as one large space or scaled down by means of mobile partitions, depending on the project. All three upper stories are top-lit. The ceilings of the exhibition spaces are of loosely joined glass panels. Incident light enters the building on all four sides through light bands and is distributed through the interior volume of each story by the glass ceiling panels. Artificial lighting in the cavity above the glass ceilings complements or replaces daylight as required. These light sources are not visible. The ground and three upper stories and their material and formal aesthetic make up a unity with great potential for art installations. Two subterranean levels complete the spatial program. The first, supplied with daylight by a light pit, accommodates a lecture room, the museum educational center, and sanitary rooms, separated from the non public areas (stock, maintenance, personnel rooms) by translucent glass brick walls. The second subterranean level is closed to the public. It accommodates an originals archive and storage space as well as the electrical, heating, and climate controls.
Administration building, café
The KUB administration building is set a short way off from the town side of the Kunsthaus, its black façade directed at the front of the Kunsthaus and its entrance. It acts as a transitional structure to the smaller and low buildings of the old part of the town. In addition to administration offices, the ground floor houses the KUB café. Peter Zumthor has displayed his uncompromising architectural vision here again, café, bar area, and kitchen being faced with black exposed concrete. In separating these amenities indispensable to a modern art gallery from the art exhibiting building, the latter can devote itself to its primary purpose.
KUB collection showcase
The Kunsthaus Bregenz has its own collection. One of the largest groups of works in the collection consists of architectural models by Peter Zumthor. Some of these exhibits have been archived since the architect's solo exhibition in 2007. Further models have been and are still being added to the collection as permanent loans. Since June 2012, a selection of these models is on show in the KUB collection showcase on the first floor of the post office building directly adjacent to the Kunsthaus Bregenz. Buildings and projects that were realized as well as those that remained in the design stage are on show. The variety displayed in the exhibition demonstrates the outstanding role that working with models and materials such as wood, metal, or clay plays in Peter Zumthor's studio.
List of exhibitions
| Year | Artist(s) | Exhibition | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | James Turrell | James Turrell | July 26–Sept. 7 |
| 32 international artists | Kunst in der Stadt 1 | July 26–Sept. 7 | |
| 50 international artists | KünstlerInnen | Sept. 29–Nov. 30 | |
| Per Kirkeby | Personale: Malerei, Zeichnung, Skulptur | Dec. 6, 1997–Feb. 15, 1998 | |
| 1998 | Lois Renner | Lois Renner | Feb. 28–April 13 |
| Franz Ackermann, Marcel Broodthaers, Ingo Günther, Moshekwa Langa, Carsten & Olaf Nicolai, Georg Nussbaumer, Valeska Peschke, Eva Wohlgemuth, Yukinori Yanagi | Atlas Mapping: Künstler als Kartographen. Kartographie als Kultur | Feb. 28-April 13 | |
| Adrian Schiess | Malerei. Personale | April 25–June 28 | |
| Georg Baselitz, Max Bill, Daniel Buren, Heinrich Dunst, Helmut Federle, Christoph Haerle, Marcia Hafif, Erwin Heerich, Gottfried Honegger, Donald Judd, Per Kirkeby, Cornelius Kolig, Gerhard Merz, Francois Morellet, Walter Pichler, Ulrich Rückriem, Bernar Venet, Franz Erhard Walther, Peter Wigglesworth, Heimo Zobernig | Räume der Kunst | April 25–June 28 | |
| Sepp Dreissiger | 66 Fotoportraits aus der Vorarlberger Kultur | May 8–June 28 | |
| 47 international artists | Kunst in der Stadt 2 | July 11–Sept. 20 | |
| 42 international artists | Lifestyle | July 11–Sept. 20 | |
| Albert Bechtold, Edmund Kalb, Edwin Neyer, Rudolf Wacker | Bechtold/Kalb/Neyer/Wacker: Body of Work | Oct. 3–June 27, 1999 | |
| Rainer Ganahl | Rainer Ganahl | Oct. 10–Nov. 22 | |
| Erwin Bohatsch | Malerei | Nov. 28, 1998–Jan. 24, 1999 | |
| Gerhard Merz | Dresden | Nov. 28, 1998–Jan. 24, 1999 | |
| 1999 | Ingeborg Strobl | Einige Gegenstände. Und Sonnenuntergang | Jan. 30–April. 5 |
| Erwin Wurm | one minute sculptures | Jan. 30–April. 5 | |
| Lucinda Devlin, Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer | Räume | April 9–June 27 | |
| Ernst Strouhal & Heimo Zobernig | Der Katalog | May 28–June 27 | |
| Wolfgang Laib | Personale | July 10–Sept. 19 | |
| 32 international artists | Kunst in der Stadt 3 | July 10–Sept. 19 | |
| Keith Sonnier | Environmental Works 1968–99 | Oct. 2–Nov. 28 | |
| Helmut Federle | Personale | Dec. 9, 1999–Feb. 6, 2000 | |
| 2000 | Peter Kogler | Personale | Feb. 19–April 30 |
| Donald Judd | Farbe | May 13–July 2 | |
| Atelier van Lieshout, CALC, Kommune Friedrichshof /Theo Altenberg, Irene & Christine Hohenbüchler, The Icelandic Love Corporation, Lyn Löwenstein, Pierre Montavon / Justo Gallego Martinez, N55, Walter Pilar, Ross Sinclair | LKW(Lebenskunstwerke) | July 15–Sept. 17 | |
| Symposium Kunsthäuser | Architektur vs Kunst – Kunst vs Museum | Nov. 16–18 | |
| Concept by Suzanne Greub, Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani and Angeli Sachs | Museums for a New Millenium | Oct. 3, 2000–Jan. 7, 2001 | |
| 2001 | Daniel Buren | Les Couleurs Traversées | Jan. 27–March 18 |
| Olafur Eliasson | The mediated motion | March 31–May 13 | |
| Günther Förg | FÖRG | May 24–July | |
| Jeff Koons | Jeff Koons | July 18–Sept. 16 | |
| Hiroshi Sugimoto | The Architecture of Time | Sept. 27–Jan. 6, 2002 | |
| 2002 | Douglas Gordon | Douglas Gordon | Jan. 17–April 14 |
| Gilbert & George | Gilbert & George | April 28–June 23 | |
| Louise Bourgeois | Zeichnungen und Skulpturen – Drawings and Sculptures | July 6–Sept. 15 | |
| Ruth Schnell | Territorism (KUB Façade) | July 12–Aug. 18 | |
| Pierre Huyghe | L'expédition scintillante | Sept. 28–Nov. 24 | |
| Doug Aitken | NEW OCEAN (a shifting exhibition) | Dec. 7, 2002–Jan. 26, 2003 | |
| 2003 | Mariko Mori | Wave UFO | Feb. 8–March 23 |
| Gerhard Merz | fragmente bregenz 2003 | April 12–June 22 | |
| Franz West | We'll Not Carry Coals | July 5–Sept. 14 | |
| Anish Kapoor | My Red Homeland | Sept. 27–Nov. 16 | |
| Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Tacita Dean, Anri Sala, Jane & Louis Wilson | Remind... | Nov. 30, 2003–Jan. 11, 2004 | |
| Tone Fink | Carwalk | Dec. 6, 2003–Jan. 18, 2004 | |
| 2004 | Gary Hume | The Bird had a Yellow Beak | Jan. 24–March 21 |
| Santiago Sierra | 300 Tonnen / 300 tons | April 3–May 23 | |
| Jenny Holzer | Truth Before Power | June 12–Sept. 5 | |
| Thomas Demand | Phototrophy | Sept. 18–Nov. 7 | |
| Hans Schabus | Das Rendezvousproblem | Nov. 20, 2004–Jan. 16, 2005 | |
| 2005 | Jake + Dinos Chapman | Explaining Christians to Dinosaurs | Jan. 29–March 28 |
| concept by Otto Kapfinger and Marie-Hélène Contal | Konstruktive Provokation – Neues Bauen in Vorarlberg | Feb. 5–March 28 | |
| Rachel Whiteread | Walls, Doors, Floors and Stairs | April 9–May 29 | |
| Roy Lichtenstein | Klassik des Neuen – Classic of the New | June 12–Sept. 9 | |
| Siegrun Appelt | 288 KW | July 9–Sept. 4 | |
| Marko Lulic, Dorit Margreiter, Nicole Six & Paul Petritsch, Gregor Zivic | Tu Felix Austria ... Wild at Heart | July 9–Sept. 4 | |
| Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller | The Secret Hotel | Nov. 26, 2005–Jan. 15, 2006 | |
| 2006 | Jean-Marc Bustamante | -beautifuldays- | Jan. 29–March 19 |
| gelitin | Chinese Synthese Leberkäse | April 13–May 28 | |
| Michael Craig-Martin | Signs of Life | June 10–Aug. 13 | |
| Tino Sehgal | Aug. 17–Sept. 24 | ||
| Gottfried Bechtold | Reine und gemischte Zustände | Oct. 1–Nov. 19 | |
| Cindy Sherman | Dec. 2, 2006–Jan. 28, 2007 | ||
| 2007 | Marcel Duchamp, Gerhard Merz, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons | Re-Object | Feb. 18–May 13 |
| Joseph Beuys, Matthew Barney, Douglas Gordon, Cy Twombly | Mythos | June 2–Sept. 9 | |
| Peter Zumthor | Bauten und Projekte 1986–2007 | Sept. 29, 2007–Jan. 9, 2008 | |
| 2008 | Maurizio Cattelan | Feb. 2–March 24 | |
| Carsten Höller | Carrousel | April 12–June 1 | |
| Richard Serra | Drawings – Work Comes Out of Work | June 14–Sept. 14 | |
| Jan Fabre | From the Cellar to the Attic – From the Feet to the Brain | Sept. 27–Jan. 25, 2009 | |
| 2009 | Markus Schinwald | Vanishing Lessons | Feb. 14–March 13 |
| Lothar Baumgarten | Seven Sounds/Seven Circles | April 25–June 21 | |
| Antony Gormley | Antony Gormley | July 13–Oct. 4 | |
| Tony Oursler | Lock 2,4,6 | Oct. 24, 2009–Jan. 17, 2010 | |
| 2010 | Candice Breitz | The Scripted Life | Feb. 6–April 11 |
| Roni Horn | Well and Truly | April 24–July 4 | |
| Cosima von Bonin | The Fatigue Empire | July 18–Oct. 3 | |
| Raumlaborberlin | Bye Bye Utopia | July 18–Oct. 3 | |
| Harun Farocki | Weiche Montagen / Soft Montages | Oct. 23–Jan. 9, 2011 | |
| Antony Gormley | Horizon Field | Aug. 2010–April 2012 | |
| 2011 | Haegue Yang | Arrivals | Jan. 22–April 3 |
| Michal Heiman, Hannah Hurtzig, Katrin Mayer | KUB Arena: Living Archives - Kooperation Van Abbemuseum | Jan. 22–April 3 | |
| Ei Arakawa, John Baldessari, Anne Collier, Simon Denny, Jean-Luc Godard, Wade Guyton, Rachel Harrison, institut for incongruous translation, Tobias Kaspar, Barbara Kruger, Richards Prince, Michael Riedel, Martha Rosler, Nora Schultz, Danh Vo, Kelley Walker, Andy Warhol | So machen wir es. Techniken und Ästhetik der Aneignung / That´s the way we do it. The Techniques and Aesthetic of Appropriation | April 16–July 3 | |
| Yona Friedman and Eckhard Schulze-Fielitz | KUB Arena | April 16–July 3 | |
| Ai Weiwei | Art/Architecture | July 16–Oct. 16 | |
| 45 international artists | KUB Arena: Anfang Gut. Alles Gut. / Beginning good. All good. | July 16–Oct. 16 | |
| Valie Export | Archiv / Archive | Oct. 29–Jan. 22, 2012 | |
| Theatre project: International Institute of Political Murder (IIPM) Berlin | KUB Arena: Hate Radio | Oct. 29–Jan. 22, 2012 | |
| 2012 | Yvonne Rainer | Raum, Körper, Sprache / Space, Body, Language | Feb. 4-April 9 |
| Yto Barrada, Alice Creischer, Josef Dabernig, Katrina Daschner, Andreas Fogarasi, Claire Fontaine, Sanja Ivekovic, Julius Koller, Jiri Kovanda, Dorit Margreiter, Ulrike Müller, Andreas Pawlik, Mathias Poledna, Florian Pumhösl, Walid Raad, Jochen Smith, Andreas Siekmann, Mladen Stilinovic, Kamen Stoyanov, Milica Tomic | KUB Arena: Bleibender Wert? Kooperation >springerin< / Enduring Value? Cooperation with 'springerin' | Feb. 4-April 9 | |
| Danh Võ | Vô Danh | April 21-June 24 | |
| Ulrike Müller | KUB Arena: Herstory Inventory: 100 feministische Zeichnungen von 100 KünstlerInnen / 100 feminist drawings by 100 artists | April 21-June 24 | |
| Peter Zumthor | KUB Sammlungsschaufenster: Architekturmodelle Peter Zumthor / Architectural Models by Peter Zumthor | June 23-Oct. 28 | |
| Ed Ruscha | Reading Ed Ruscha | July 7-Oct. 14 | |
| Conference Concept by Eva Birkenstock, Diedrich Diederichsen, Max Jorge Hinderer Cruz, Jens Kastner, Ruth Sonderegger | KUB Arena: Sommerakademie. Kunst und Ideologiekritik nach 1989 / Art and ideological criticism after 1989 | Sept. 24-Sept. 30 | |
| Florian Pumhösl | Räumliche Sequenz | Oct. 26-Jan. 20, 2013 | |
| Jacob Barua, Sam Hopkins, Laura Horelli, Peterson Kamwathi Waweru, Maasai Mbili, James Muriuki, Kevo Stero, Studio Propolis | KUB Arena: Nairobi - A State of Mind, Cooperation Goethe-Institute Nairobi, Kenya | Oct. 26-Jan. 20, 2013 | |
| 2013 | Neil Beloufa, Minerva Cuevas, Mariechen Danz, Isa Genzken, Hans Haacke, Keith Haring, Teresa Margolles, Ken Okiishi, Julika Rudelius, Yorgos Sapountzis, Cindy Sherman, Andreas Siekmann, Dirk Stewen, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Rosemarie Trockel, Cathy Wilkes | Love is Colder than Capital | Feb. 2-April 14 |
| Andy Warhol | KUB Arena: Andy Warhol - Fifteen Minutes of Fame | Feb. 2-April 14 | |
| Wade Guyton and Kelley Walker | Wade Guyton, Guyton\Walker, Kelley Walker | April 27-June 30 | |
| Yane Calovski, David Maljkovic, Dorit Margreiter, Nick Mauss, Charlotte Moth, Stephen Willats, Johannes Wohnseifer | KUB Arena: On the Move. European Kunsthalle at the KUB Arena | Aug. 5-Aug 11 | |
| Gabriel Orozco | Natural Motion | July 13-Oct. 6 | |
| SKILLS, Camilla Milena Fehér, Sylvi Kretzschmar, Matias Aguayo x Mostro | KUB Arena: Back to the Future. A Week in Summer of Art, Films, and Music | Aug. 5-Aug. 11 | |
| Barbara Kruger | Oct. 19-Jan. 12, 2014 | ||
| Dora Garcia | KUB Arena: Dora Garcia | Oct. 19-Jan. 12, 2014 | |
| 2014 | Pascal Marthine Tayou | I love you | Jan. 25-April. 27 |
| Gerry Bibby and Juliette Blightman | KUB Arena: Gerry Bibby and Juliette Blightman | Jan. 25-April. 27 | |
| Maria Eichhorn | Maria Eichhorn | May 10-June 7 | |
| Sung Hwan Kim and dogr | KUB Arena: I will dress you, howl bowel owl | May 10-June 7 | |
| Richard Prince | It's a Free Concert | July 19-Oct. 5 | |
| Julian Göthe | KUB Arena: Sommerfestival. Vom Werden und Sein | July 29-Aug. 3 | |
| Jeff Wall | Tableaux Pictures Photographs 1996-2013 | Oct. 18-Jan. 11 2015 | |
| Hannah Weinberg | KUB Arena: Hannah Weinberg | Oct. 18-Jan. 11 2015 | |
| 2015 | Rosemarie Trockel | Märzôschnee ûnd Wiebôrweh sand am Môargô niana me | Jan. 24-April 6 |
| Trix and Robert Haussmann | KUB Arena: Reflexion und Transparenz | Jan. 25-April 6 | |
| Berlinde De Bruyckere | The Embalmer | April 18-July 5 | |
| Dexter Sinister | KUB Arena: At 1:1 Scale.* | April 18-July 5 | |
| Joan Mitchell | Retrospective. Her Life and Paintings | July 18-Oct. 25 | |
| Kerstin Brätsch, Debo Eilers and Kaya Serene | KUB Arena: KAMP KAYA | Aug. 27-Aug. 30 | |
| Heimo Zobernig | Heimo Zobernig | Nov. 12-Jan. 10 2016 | |
| Amy Sillman | KUB Arena: Yes & No | Nov. 12-Jan. 10 2016 | |
| 2016 | Susan Philipsz | Night and Fog | Jan. 30-April 3 |
| Trix and Robert Haussmann | KUB Arena: Reflexion und Transparenz | Jan. 25-April 27 | |
| Anna-Sophie Berger | KUB Billboards | Feb. 26-May 17 | |
| Theaster Gates | Black Archives | April 23-June 26 | |
| Gaylen Gerber and Studio for Propositional Cinema | KUB Projects: Exhibition | June 23-26 | |
| Feminist Landart Retreat | KUB Billboards | May 5-July 25 | |
| Wael Shawky | Wael Shawky | July 16-Oct. 23 | |
| Maja Cule | KUB Billboards | Aug. 5-Oct. 31 | |
| Sol Calero | KUB Projects | Oct. 23-Jan. 15 2017 | |
| Lawrence Weiner | WHEREWITHAL WAS ES BRAUCHT | Nov. 12-Jan. 15 2017 | |
| Daiga Grantina | KUB Billboards | Nov. 4-Jan. 15 2017 | |
| 2017 | Rachel Rose | Rachel Rose | Feb. 4-April 17 |
| Adrián Villar Rojas | The Theater of Disappearance | May 13-Aug. 27 | |
| Simon Fujiwara | KUB Billboards: Campaign | April 21-Jan. 7 2018 | |
| Peter Zumthor | Dear to Me | Sept. 16-Jan. 7 2018 | |
| 2018 | Simon Fujiwara | Hope House | Jan. 27-April 8 |
| Flaka Haliti | KUB Billboards | Feb. 16-April 22 | |
| Mika Rottenberg | Mika Rottenberg | April 21-July 1 | |
| Alicia Frankovich | KUB Billboards: After Blue Marble | May 5-July 15 | |
| David Claerbout | David Claerbout | July 14-Oct. 7 | |
| Lili Reynaud Dewar | KUB Billboards | July 26-Oct. 21 | |
| Tacita Dean | Tacita Dean | Oct. 20-Jan. 6 2019 | |
| Maeve Brennan | KUB Billboards | Nov. 8-Jan. 20 2019 |
Further reading
- Zumthor, Peter: Kunsthaus Bregenz In: Kunsthaus Bregenz (Hrsg.): Archiv Kunst Architektur Hatje Cantz Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-7757-0720-4,(Werkdokumente/Kunsthaus Bregenz.).
References
- ↑ Arch Daily: AD Classics: Kunsthaus Bregenz / Peter Zumthor, 27 January 2011
- 1 2 KUB: Architecture, retrieved 20 May 2011
- ↑ Architecture Today 83, November 1997:12, Architecture Today PLC, London.
External links
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