SPACE//BODY//FORM – Stephan Balkenhol, Herbert Brandl, Katharina Grosse, Martin Kippenberger, Julian Khol, Hans Kupelwieser, Joseph Marsteurer, Fritz Panzer, Anton Petz, Karl Prantl, Thomas Stimm, Ai Weiwei, Sabine Wiedenhofer, Levente Szücs, Franz West, Erwin Wurm

Opening on June 18th 2025, 6 PM

Reinisch Gallery, Hauptplatz 6, Graz

Introduction and Greeting: Manuela Schlossinger and Mathis Huber

Artists are present.

Exhibition in collaboration with STYRIARTE

Exhibition until July 12th 2025

SPACE//BODY//FORM

The exhibition SPACE//BODY//FORM brings together significant positions in contemporary art to explore the complex interplay of space, body, and form in painting and sculpture. The works of Stephan Balkenhol, Herbert Brandl, Katharina Grosse, Martin Kippenberger, Julian Khol, Hans Kupelwieser, Joseph Marsteurer, Fritz Panzer, Anton Petz, Karl Prantl, Thomas Stimm, Ai Weiwei, Sabine Wiedenhofer, Levente Szücs, Franz West, and Erwin Wurm pose not only formal questions but open up new realms of perception – physical, emotional, and political.

At the heart of the exhibition is the fusion and mutual permeation of two artistic genres: painting and sculpture. Where does surface end and volume begin? What role does the body play – as a real subject, as an object of representation, or as an imagined point of reference – in the tension between artwork and space? And what social, cultural, or political associations are tied to form?

The artists address these questions in highly individual ways. While Katharina Grosse occupies space with color and understands painting as a performative act, Stephan Balkenhol sculpts bodies from wood that, in their quiet presence, raise questions of individuality and temporality. Ai Weiwei uses sculptural forms as carriers of political messages, while Franz West redefines the relationship between artwork and viewer – as an interactive, physical experience.

The exhibition invites visitors to rethink the boundaries between inside and outside, surface and depth, representation and abstraction. Here, “form” becomes more than an aesthetic category – it becomes a bearer of meaning and social relevance. The relationship between artwork and space is also radically questioned: many of the works engage in a direct dialogue with the gallery’s architecture – they intervene, disrupt, and shift perspectives.

Ultimately, SPACE//BODY//FORM is also a reflection on the medium of exhibition itself. How can works be staged in a space without isolating or over-contextualizing them? How does space become a resonating body for bodies and forms, for materiality and idea?

This group exhibition is conceived as an open field, a space for thought and experience that invites the audience to engage actively with perception. Between physical presence and conceptual depth emerges a multifaceted panorama of artistic explorations of what surrounds, shapes – and moves us.

Manuela Schlossinger