Kunsthalle Wien's 'Lebt und arbeitet in Wien' Returns After Decade-Long Hiatus

After more than ten years, the Kunsthalle Wien revives its survey format 'Lebt und arbeitet in Wien' (Lives and Works in Vienna), presenting 56 artists across two venues. Curated by Daniel Baumann, Monika Georgieva, and Michelle Cotton, the exhibition draws from a pool of 700 Vienna-based practitioners. The show is split between the Museumsquartier and Karlsplatz locations. At Museumsquartier, works span painting, sculpture, and video, including pieces by Ernst Yohji Jaeger, Till Megerle, Vika Prokopaviciute, Michaela Polacek, Angelika Loderer, Nora Schultz, Brishty Alam, Huda Takriti, and Scott Clifford Evans. The Karlsplatz venue focuses on architecture-related works by Emma Hummerhielm Carlén, Toni Schmale, Liesl Raff, and Sebastian Koeck. The exhibition highlights the international diversity of Vienna's art scene, with artists from Bangladesh, Iran, Bulgaria, Sweden, South Korea, Germany, Lithuania, Syria, Canada, and Austria. A notable feature is the influence of the city's two major art academies: the University of Applied Arts Vienna and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, whose faculty and alumni are heavily represented. The show also serves as a showcase for established local galleries. A recurring motif is bells, referencing Florentina Holzinger's 1,450 kg bell in Venice, a bell installation at Neuer Kunstverein Wien, and Christoph Meier's site-specific bell sculpture at the Kunsthalle, which transforms a smoking corner into a sacred space.