Heimo Zobernig

Mudam Luxembourg, Kestnergesellschaft

Heimo Zobernig (*1958 in Mauthen, Austria) occupies a central position in contemporary art with his diverse, genre- spanning work. The artist, who lives in Vienna, works with painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic and furniture design, video, performance and music. He often uses everyday materials such as cardboard, styrofoam, pressboard, linen and fluorescent lights to create his objects and spatial interventions. The unpretentious material, coupled with a simple, geometric use of forms, contributes to the soberly pragmatic impression.

His work focuses on forms of abstraction, the possibility of painting and sculpture, as well as questions about presentation or the relationship between functionality and autonomy. Zobernig’s approach is marked by a skeptical optimism toward the legacy of modernism, but also by an unbroken curiosity, experimentalism and a dry humor. Zobernig has taken part in exhibitions alongside artists such as Franz West and Dan Graham and has already been invited to participate in several documenta exhibitions. Among the high points of his career was a solo exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. In 2010 Zobernig was awarded the Austrian Friedrich Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts.