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 chat and smile on a colorful circular-seat bench in a bright modern room with white walls and art.

Collector Stories Johanna and Friedrich Gräfling, Wiesen, Germany

The program that Johanna and Friedrich Gräfling have completed in terms of art over the past ten years is actually more than enough for three lifetimes. They have founded an experimental exhibition space in Aschaffenburg, established the “Salon Kennedy” in Frankfurt am Main, a place for exhibitions and discourse on art, architecture and design, founded an art association, converted a barn into a residence, and built up a distinguished art collection with an international reputation, including works by Alicia Kwade, Simon Fujiwara, and Michael Sailstorfer.

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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.

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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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Art Basel Paris takes place at the Grand Palais, in the heart of the French capital. The show builds bridges with France’s cultural industries to create a flagship event radiating throughout the city, embedded in its exceptional cultural ecosystem.

Nordic Notes

Person steht im Atelier vor zwei großformatigen Gemälden; helles Hemd und Jeans, farbenfrohe Porträts im Hintergrund.

Jenni Hiltunen, Helsinki
Jenni Hiltunen deals with phenomena of our time: a pleasure oriented and individualistic worldview and the understanding of reality through images. A “posing culture”, fostered by social media and the internet, and its pretentious way of existing in the world of entertainment is one of the topics she explores to hold a mirror in front of us. She exaggerates without over-moralizing.
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