Eva Ursprung; Susanne Wenger — HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark

Opening

Eva Ursprung, *Indigo Haven*, 2023, video, 5:11 min.; Susanne Wenger, *Mọrèmi, Odùduwà steigt vom Himmel* (Mọrèmi, Odùduwà Descends from Heaven), 1959, àdìrẹ cassava starch batik, 142 × 160 cm, Courtesy Susanne Wenger Foundation, Krems, photo: © Martin Bilinovac

In the exhibition The Art of Surfacing HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark presents the diverse work of the Austrian artist, musician, and curator Eva Ursprung, who received the Honorary Prize of the State of Styria for the Fine Arts in 2024. Eva Ursprung’s work combines cross-media formats with feminist, socially critical, and collaborative strategies. The central theme of this exhibition is the element of water, a material that Ursprung has repeatedly addressed over the decades in different artistic and political contexts. This element forms the basis of all life, stands for change and transformation, and also has destructive force. Water flows, creates connections, divides, and shapes, and in Ursprung’s work it becomes a metaphor for ecological, social, and geopolitical processes.

Susanne Wenger (1915, Graz; †2009, Òṣogbo, Nigeria) is seen as a key Austrian post-1945 artist and also an early contemporary of surrealism. After spending her youth in Graz, actively resisting the Nazi régime, and training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, she traveled to Nigeria in 1950. She lived as an artist and Òrìṣà priestess of the Yorùbá faith for nearly sixty years until her death. In the sacred groves along the river Ọ̀ṣun, she worked with the New Sacred Art Movement to create monumental sculptures and shrines, enhancing this spiritual vicinity with a total work of art. Working together with the Susanne Wenger Foundation in Krems, which has done great service to preserving the artist’s work, HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark presents a judicious selection of Wenger’s multi-facetted work.

Artists

Participating artists

Solo and Group exhibitions, projects (selection):

Steirische Kulturinitiative (2025, 2024), kunstGarten, Graz (2025, 2021, 2016, 2011), Kunsthaus Graz (2025, 2021, 2012, 2007), prison wall Justizanstalt Karlau, XENOS & Kunst im öffentlichen Raum Steiermark, Graz (2024), Taman Budaya, Yogyakarta (2023), BACC (Bangkok Art and Culture Center) (2023), La Terminal Zawp, MEM Festical, Bilbao (2023), IMA Institut für Medienarchäologie, St. Pölten (2022), Künstlerhaus München, Munich (2022), Schaumbad Freies Atelierhaus Graz (2021, 2018, 2008), Steirischer Herbst, Graz (2020, 2014, 2013, 2006, 1999), <rotor>, Graz (2019), Gakerija ALU, Sarajewo (2018), Künstlerhaus Klagenfurt (2017), POST, Los Angeles (2016), Flux Factory, New York (2016), Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania (2015), Les Kurbas National Theatre Arts Center, Kiew (2014), APO33, La Plateforme Intermédia, La Fabrique, Nantes (2014), MAD Emerging Art Center, Eindhoven (2013), Literaturhaus Graz (2011), Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina / Institut für Kunst im öffentlichen Raum, Novi Sad (2011), Stadtmuseum Graz (2010), galerie wildwechsel, Frankfurt am Main (2008), Freiraum Transeuropa / PiroschkaREV, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna (2004), Cornerhouse, Manchester (2002), Laznia Center for Contemporary Art, Gdansk (2002), The Substation, Singapore (2002), Ottis Gallery, Los Angeles (1998).

Solo exhibitions (selection): Susanne Wenger Foundation, Krems (2020, 2015), Le Michael C. Carlos Museum à l’Université d’Emory, Atlanta (2016), Deutschvilla Strobl (2015), Museum der Völker, Schwaz (2015), Iwalewa House, Bayreuth (2009), Stadtmuseum Graz (2006, 1985), Kunsthalle Krems (2004, 1995), Universalmuseum Joanneum / Künstlerhaus Graz (2004), Galerie 422, Gmunden (2001), Künstlerhaus Wien (1985).

Group exhibitions (selection): Tate Modern, London (2025), Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade (2025), 60th Venice Biennale (2024), MUMOK, Vienna (2022), Landesgalerie Niederösterreich, Krems (2021), Galerie 422, Gmunden (2008, 2004), Neue Galerie Graz (2005, 2001), Kunsthalle Krems (2003), MoMA, New York (2002, 1979), Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2001), Museum Villa Stuck, Munich (2001), National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC (2000), Mittelrheinisches Landesmuseum, Mainz (1980), Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles (1969).