NEWS
November 1., 2025 – April 19., 2026 • Group exhibition
Soil & Water – Nirox Foundation, Krugersdorp
Soil & Water is a large-scale artistic research project located in the heart of the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa. As such Soil & Water is uniquely positioned to serve as a dynamic, modular platform for in-depth reflection. The project outcomes comprise a series of public exhibitions, artist residencies, public programmes including dialogues, performances and concerts, a community engagement and research initiative, and finally, a publication.
The intricate relationship between soil and water embodies a fundamental balance that life depends upon. This balance is neither static nor neutral and holds the potential to generate, to preserve, and to transform life itself. Soil and water are not only elemental materials but also bearers of ideologies, memories, narratives, and politics. They absorb and release, conceal and reveal. Through their ongoing interaction, water and soil record the passage of time, the force of histories and the silent shifts within ecosystems. Approaching these materials through artistic inquiry invites an engagement with what lies beneath the surface — the sedimented layers of meaning, the isolated fragments of memory, and the buried traces of human and non-human entanglements. These materials tacitly embody the myriad forms that inhabit the world, how we shape and are shaped by it in turn. Their ongoing interplay offers insights into the various cycles of nourishment and depletion, presence and absence, movement and containment that sustain and give life meaning.
By focusing on soil and water, the project turns attention to the broader conditions in which we live, think, and act. Rather than seeking resolution, the project invites reflection on the limits of our knowledge, the value of a multiplicity of viewpoints, and the role of art in making visible what often remains unseen or unspoken. In doing so, it acknowledges the urgency of reimagining our place within a world defined by interdependence, vulnerability, and transformation.
Participating artists
Abri de Swardt (ZA). Alet Pretorius (ZA). Anastasiia Shcherban (UA). Atang Tshikare (ZA). Atul Bhalla (IN). Barbara Putz- Plecko (AT). Bronwyn Lace ft. The Centre for the Less Good Idea (ZA). Caroline Le Méhauté (FR). Christophe Fellay (CH). Coral Bijoux (ZA). Diego Masera (AR). Diane Victor (ZA). Douglas Gimberg & Diana Vives (ZA). Ebru Kurbak (TR/AT). Egle Oddo (IT/FI). Eugénie Touzé (FR). Francesco Bellina (IT). Hera Büyüktasçiyan (TR). Herrana Addisu (ET). Inma Herrera (ES/FI). Isa Rosenberger (AT). Jacob van SchalkwyR (ZA). Jessica Ostrowicz (UK). Jesper Just (DK). Johan Thom (ZA). Jonatan Habib Engquist [Author] (SE). Ledelle Moe (ZA). Lorin Sookol (ZA). Lundahl & Seitl (SE). MADEYOULOOK (ZA). Maria Lantz (SE). Marcus Neustetter (AT/ZA). Mithu Sen (IN). Olha Fedorova (LA). Oya Silbery (CY). Raúl Mirlo (MX). Paula Anta (ES). Ramesh Daha (AT). Robin Rhode (ZA/DE). Rojda Tugrul (TR). Sebastian Stumpf (DE). Seretse Moletsane (ZA). Setlamorago Mashilo (ZA). The ZoNE (AT/CH/TR/ZA). Vibha Galhotra (IN)
Soil & Water was collaboratively developed by Prof. Johan Thom (Pretoria), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Basak Senova (Vienna) and the NIROX Foundation in South Africa.
October 3., 2025 – August 30., 2026 • Group exhibition
Work in Progress – Dom Museum Wien
Work is not only a politically explosive topic, but also an existentially charged one. It permeates cultural, religious, and social systems of interpretation – as at once a norm, a burden, a hope, and a structure. The exhibition focuses on the human struggle with gainful employment: its necessity, meaningfulness, reasonableness, and design. It also delves into invisible, unpaid, or underpaid activities – such as care work, housework, artistic creation, forms of protest, and even procrastination.
The show combines works from the Middle Ages to the present day to explore the personal and sociopolitical conditions of work. In addition to national and international loans and newly commissioned works, the exhibition also offers insights into the collections of Dom Museum Wien.
With artwork by Robert Adrian X, Iris Andraschek, Tabitha Arnold, Gerd Arntz, Jacopo da Ponte called Bassano, Willi Baumeister, KP Brehmer, Renate Eisenegger, Georg Eisler, Harun Farocki, Tine Fetz, Greta Freist, Birke Gorm, Robert Hammerstiel, Johann Hamza, Hauenschild Ritter, John Heartfield, Sofia Hultén, Anna Jermolaewa, Johanna Kandl, Anastasia Khoroshilova, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Max Klinger, Silvia Koller, Käthe Kollwitz, Auguste Kronheim, Arthur Kurtz, Hubert Lobnig, Nana Mandl, Luise Marchand, Luiza Margan, Tiago Mena Abrantes, Josef Mikl, Joiri Minaya, Fabeha Monir, Michael Neder, Lowell Nesbitt, Otto Neurath, Aeri Park, Margot Pilz, Inge Platzer, Marie Reidemeister, Lili Réthi, Isa Rosenberger, August Sander, Anna Schachinger, Beate Schachinger, Johann Caspar Schenck, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, See Red Women's Workshop, Klaus Staeck, Mladen Stilinović, Norbert Wagenbrett, Oliver Walker, Olga Wisinger-Florian, and historic artists whose names are not known.
Curator: Johanna Schwanberg
Co-Curator: Vanessa Joan Müller
Curatorial assistants: Nina Schermann, Anke Wiedmann
August 12., 2025 – September 2., 2025 • Group exhibition
The Mirror Project at Teatro Pirandello – AGRIGENTO CAPITALE ITALIANA DELLA CULTURA 2025
Agrigento, designated as the Italian Capital of Culture for 2025 (Agrigento Capitale Italiana della Cultura 2025), has structured its programme around four thematic elements: Air, Earth, Water, and Fire. The “Mirror” project is presented under the theme of ‘Water’.
The Mediterranean region has always generated and orchestrated a unique understanding of imagination through unexpected associative processes, especially through the theme of water as an overarching motif. The project operates as an analogy to observing a broken mirror with its fragments. In this context, the main curatorial objective of the project is to incorporate the mirroring of various elements to one another: the city of Agrigento, the element of water, films, photographs, music, and the audience creating a strong and unified experience at Teatro Pirandello Agrigento, with a scheduled program spanning a month. This experience will also be captured in a book that reflects and intertwines these elements, narrated through the perspective of a stray cat named ‘Surfaro’.
The Mirror project, under the coverage of Agrigento Capitale Italiana della Cultura 2025, realised in collaboration with The Atlas (of Creative Mechanisms): [Curating–Conducting]. From both a conceptual and structural perspective, the project adopts an experimental framework, reimagining the traditional space of an opera house through the lens of contemporary art. Works (based on moving image), which either process or incorporate musical components, sound, rhythm, and performative structures, are presented in the format of screenings in lieu of an opera, ballet, or concert. Simultaneously, photographs are exhibited on the stage itself, utilising the theatre’s mechanical systems in the form of an exhibition.
By inviting the audience to step onto the stage and experience it as an exhibition space, The Mirror challenges conventional modes of spectatorship and transforms the performative setting into an immersive visual and spatial encounter. This recontextualisation of the operatic environment opens up new perceptual and conceptual possibilities to reflect on the shifting boundaries between artistic disciplines. These spatial, perceptual, and sensory interventions will be further explored through a critical and reflexive exchange between the curators and documented in the forthcoming Atlas publication.
The “Mirror” project consists of three interconnected chapters. The first chapter is the experimental exhibition held on the stage of Teatro Pirandello in Agrigento. It combines a film screening with photographs, inviting the audience to step onto the stage to experience the photographs in a unique exhibition setup and watch the films as opera audiences. The second chapter is a book that mirrors art and the city of Agrigento. It processes observations through the eyes of a stray cat hovering around the city. The third chapter entails the dissemination of the film programme and the book to partner institutions in different cities across Europe: Istanbul Modern (Istanbul), Kunsthalle Wien (Vienna), Kunsthaus Dahlem (Berlin), Liljevalchs Konsthall (Stockholm), National Museum of Modern Art (Zagreb), The Art Rooms, ARUCAD (Kyrenia) and CVAR Centre of Visual Arts and Research (Nicosia); Cyprus, The Reykjanes Art Museum (Reykjavik).
The participating artists of the project are Ali Cherri (LB/FR), Almagul Menlibeyeva (KZ/DE), Cristiana de Marchi (IT/LB/AE), Egle Oddo (IT/FI), Emilija Škarnulytė ( (LT), Francesco Bellina (IT), Hera Büyüktasciyan (TR), Herrana Addisu (ET), Icelandic Love Corporation (IS), Isa Rosenberger (AT), Jesper Just (DE), Johan Thom (ZA), Larissa Sansour (PS/UK) – Søren Lind (DK/UK), Marcus Neustetter (AT), Marja Helander (FI), The ZoNE (AT), Maria Lantz (SE), Nisrine Boukhari (SY/AT), Oya Silbery (CY), Rojda Tugrul (TR/AT), Ramesch Daha (AT), Superflex (DK), Theresa Traore Dahlberg (SE), Wael Shawky (EG), and William Kentridge (ZA).
Curated by Basak Senova and Jonatan Habib Enqgvist
The Atlas (of Creative Mechanisms): [Curating–Conducting] is a PEEK project led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Basak Senova, with interdisciplinary input from key researcher Dr. David Chisholm, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and hosted by the Institute of Art Sciences and Art Education at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
https://agrigento2025.org/progetti/mirror
18/06/2025 – 19/07/2025 • Group exhibition
Opening: 18/06/2025 19:00
The Atlas – Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna
Artists / Musicians: Yane Calovski, Hristina Ivanoska, Bronwyn Lace, Isa Rosenberger, Timo Tuhkanen, Ilan Volkov
Curated by Başak Şenova
Key Contributing Researcher: David Chisholm
The Atlas (of Creative Mechanisms): [Curating-Conducting] is an artistic research project that maps out a comparative analysis between curating and conducting. The Atlas exhibition is one of the key components of this research, showcasing various positionings, reflections, and visual/auditory notes from the six "Agents" of the project: conductor Ilan Volkov, artist Isa Rosenberger, artist and composer Timo Tuhkanen, artist Bronwyn Lace, artist Yane Calovski, and artist Hristina Ivanoska contribute to this research through their artistic and conceptual insights. They respond to the collected research data by taking the performative functions and creative mechanisms within curatorial and conductorial practices. By presenting these diverse perspectives, the exhibition serves as a space for inquiry, where the project’s hypothesis of invisible commonalities and intersectional linkages between the two disciplines.
• Screening I Talk im Rahmen von:
Dancing History – HFBK Hamburg, Extended Library
Öffentliches Programm
23.-24. Mai, 2025
Julia: Wir erzählen die Geschichte einer Performance im Rahmen des Hamburger Künstlerfestes ‚Krawall im All‘ im Jahr 1932…
Anja: …bei der Richard Luksch, ein Professor der HFBK Hamburg, mit einer Hitlerpuppe aufgetreten ist.
Nora: Wir erzählen, was wir wissen, und lassen offen, was wir nicht wissen. Aber ein Ausgangspunkt ist auch die Geschichte dieser Institution, der HFBK Hamburg
Diese Worte stehen am Beginn der Lecture Performance „Krawall im All“ von INGLAM. Sie ist Anlass für ein öffentliches Programm, das sich dem Verhältnis von Tanz, Politik, Theorie und Geschichte widmet. Ein Screening und ein Gespräch mit der Künstlerin Isa Rosenberger, geben Einblicke in ihre filmisch-installativen Arbeiten, die marginalisierten Geschichten des Tanzes folgen. Mit dem politischen Theoretiker Oliver Marchart beschäftigen uns Tanz, Politik und Denken in unterschiedlichen Verbindungen. Am Anfang jedes Tages stehen performativ-vermittlerische Auseinandersetzung mit historischen Spuren am Gebäude der HFBK Hamburg am Lerchenfeld.
Freitag, 23. Mai 2025
16.00 Uhr: Begrüßung durch Anja Steidinger, Julia Mummenhof, Nora Sternfeld, Julia Stolba
(…)
https://hfbk-hamburg.de/de/aktuelles/kalender/dancing-history/
06/04/2025 13:00 • Screening
Künstlerische Biografien – Filmcasino Wien
MANDA
Isa Rosenberger | AT/DE 2023 | 22 min | OmeU
In ihrer filmischen Auseinandersetzung mit der Tänzerin und Choreografin Manda von Kreibig, die am Bauhaus gemeinsam mit Oskar Schlemmer den Stäbetanz entwickelt hat, sowie mit deren Zeitgenossin, der Frauenrechtlerin Lu Märten, verwebt Isa Rosenberger ihre historische Recherche mit generellen und aktuellen Fragen nach dem Gedächtnis von Museen und ihrer Verantwortung in eben diesem Prozess der Geschichtsschreibung.
DIE FRAUEN. Walter Pichler und St. Martin
Sasha Pirker | AT 2016 | 25 min | OmeU
Die Filmemacherin stellt im beauftragten Filmportrait über den Bildhauer und Architekten Walter Pichler kurzerhand jene Frauen in den Mittelpunkt ihrer Arbeit, die das Lebenswerk von Pichler maßgeblich mitprägt hatten: Elfi Tripamer-Pichler und Anna Tripamer, Ehefrau und Tochter.
re-GEO / rendering reconstructions of desire
Michaela Schwentner | AT/CH 2021 | 33 min | OmeU
In ihrem Porträt der Schweizer Bildhauerin und Architektin Georgette Klein und des von ihr geplanten modernistischen Hauses verhandelt Michaela Schwentner essenzielle Fragen einer feministischen Kunstpraxis.
3 Kurzfilme, kuratiert von Lotte Schreiber
Im Anschluss an das Programm: Gespräch mit den Künstlerinnen Michaela Schwentner und Isa Rosenberger
20/03/2025 – 22/03/2025 • Screening
SPARK Art Fair Vienna – Video Programme 2025
Isa Rosenberger
Espiral, 2010/13
HD video, color, sound, 13 min 51 sec
“Espiral” was inspired by Kurt Jooss’ ballet “Der grüne Tisch” [The Green Table] of 1932, where Death dances self-assuredly around a succession of powerless protagonists who gather around a green table like politicians or gamblers. The video refers to the expansion of Austrian banks to Eastern Europe. Here, Death is performed by the Chilean dancer Amanda Piña. At one point, the artist herself appears as Piña’s make-up artist. The video’s central section shows fragments of the historical performance, which are contrasted with a new interpretation in front of the Austrian National Bank.
Thursday: 2:25 PM – 2:40 PM, 5:25 PM – 5:40 PM
Saturday: 11:25 AM – 11:39 AM
Sunday: 1:25 PM – 1:40 PM
2023–2024 • Group Exhibition
„Das Denkmal ist…“
Eine Wanderausstellung der Stiftung friedliche Revolution mit Stationen in Leipzig, Frankfurt/Main, Karlsruhe, Nürnberg, Hannover / DE
https://www.stiftung-fr.de/portfolio/freiheits-und-einheitsdenkmal/
05/07/24–29/08/24 • Group Exhibition
AHA – Anti-These Hallein – Alte Saline / Pernerinsel, Hallein / AT
https://www.hallein.com/erleben/veranstaltung/aha-anti-these-hallein/
24/05/24–20/06/24 • Group Exhibition
The Power as the Basis of Right – Artrooms Gallery, Kyrenia Cyprus
https://www.instagram.com/p/C7ULeXcMBXF/
08/04/24 • Lecture
Isa Rosenberger. LÜCKEN, LEERSTELLEN UND CARE – MUK Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien / AT
https://muk.ac.at
15/03/24–11/05/24 • Residency / Solo Exhibition
Isa Rosenberger #stageplays – Charim Factory, Vienna / AT
www.charimgalerie.at
04/05/2024 18:00 • Talk
Von den Lücken her das Material erschließen. Nora Sternfeld im Gespräch mit Isa Rosenberger – Charim Factory, Vienna / AT
09/03/24–09/06/24 • Group Exhibition
Auf den Schultern von Riesinnen (On the Shoulders of Giantesses) – Künstlerhaus Wien / AT –
www.kuenstlerhaus.at
12/11/2023 17:00 • Screening
Power as the Basis of Right – MQ Raum D, Vienna
www.mqw.at
19/10/23—17/03/24 • Group Exhibition
2000s, Bye Bye Confidence – Wien Museum MUSA, Vienna / AT
www.wienmuseum.at
01/06/23–07/01/24 • Solo Exhibition
Isa Rosenberger. MANDA – Bauhaus Dessau Foundation / DE
www.bauhaus-dessau.de
10/02/23–01/05/23 • Solo Exhibition
Isa Rosenberger. Shadows, Gaps, Voids – Kunsthaus Graz / AT
https://www.museum-joanneum.at/kunsthaus-graz/unser-programm/ausstellungen/event/isa-rosenberger