In the Studio James Lewis, Vienna

James Lewis works with the things that remain when certainty disappears — data, photographs, scent, fragments of memory. Born in London, based in Vienna, he builds installations that ask how we construct knowledge, turning a statistic into a sculpture, a memory into a scent.

In the Studio Cecilia Vicuña, New York

Cecilia Vicuña’s practice moves fluidly between poetry, sculpture, textile, and performance, always returning to what she calls arte precario: an art built from debris, unspun wool, feathers, and stone that she has been making since 1966. Rooted in Indigenous Andean knowledge systems, and above all in the khipu—the knotted cord long dismissed as a mere accounting device—her work reframes precariousness and fragility as forms of consciousness rather than loss.

Person with long wavy hair sits on a stool in a gallery, looking at the camera, wearing a navy jacket; left wall covered in blue Life posters.

In the Studio Robin Kid, Rambouillet, France

Robin Kid works with images that feel less made than encountered. Cowboys, cops, fragments of cartoon Americana: images that existed long before he picked them up, suspended somewhere between memory and mass culture. Raised in the south of the Netherlands by his grandparents, in a former mining neighbourhood bordering an American army base, he grew up with the idea of the U.S. glowing faintly from the other side of the fence.

Two adults smiling in a living room; person in pink gingham shirt and navy skirt, other in blazer and khaki pants, sofa with orange cushions.

Collector Stories Annette and Rainer Stadler, Munich

Over the past two decades, the Munich-based couple Annette and Rainer Stadler have been gathering an art collection that has outgrown their house. As they believe in promoting the artists they collect, they like to show their works in public.

Culture Briefing

Where to meet art, culture and creativity

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For the 22nd time, VIENNA ART WEEK puts Vienna’s vibrant art scene in the spotlight. Under this year’s theme, “Navigating Angst,” the festival explores the fears and uncertainties of our time. Together with around 70 programme partners, the festival offers a full week of inspiring art – from contemporary to Baroque – with free admission.

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Swab Barcelona will celebrate its 19th edition from October 8 to 11 at the Victoria Eugenia Palace (located at the Fira Barcelona-Montjuic site, in the city of Barcelona, Spain) in a space of more than 3,150 m2 that will use reusable elements such as wood to minimize the event's ecological footprint and reduce waste. Under the metaphor of the eclipse as a change of perspective, the international independent art platform, which will feature more than 180 artists from 22 different countries, debuts the OFF-SITE program and commits to decentralizing artistic practice and strengthening community ties. This will respond to the need to rethink exhibition and market structures in the face of the current climate and socio-political crisis.

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Iranian-born artist Soli Kiani creates a body of work in which fabric becomes both a formative substance and a carrier of social meaning. Themes such as origin, physicality, and negotiating patriarchal structures are combined in her work with a distinctive, sculptural language. For the Dominikanerkirche Krems, she has conceived a spatial installation in which textile materials serve as the central artistic medium.

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With Elisabeth von Samsonow, the Heidi Horten Collection is dedicating a major solo exhibition to an artistic and philosophical perspective that transcends narrow disciplinary boundaries. This is the first time that Elisabeth von Samsonow’s multifaceted body of work has been presented on this scale, showcasing its artistic breadth and intellectual depth.

Nordic Notes

Black model stands in a showroom between dark leather jackets and white padded garments, wearing a sleeveless gray dress with arms folded.

Sandra Mujinga, Oslo/Berlin
Inspired by science fiction and animal survival strategies, Congolese-Norwegian artist Sandra Mujinga explores themes of visibility and surveillance. She builds her own speculative space with ghosts from colonial history that she ties to difficult and sometimes uncomfortable questions pertaining to today.
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