Five artists, one curator: They all grew up in the Innviertel and left at some point. To study, work, make art or just to be somewhere else. Some of them are still away, some are back, constantly or regularly, rarely, for longer periods or only for the holidays. In the joint exhibition HOMECOMING, they take a look back and ahead: what do the rooms, landscapes and images look like in our memories? What materials, smells, colors and words is “home” made of? What is it like to return, to go home, or to turn around after all?
CV
Ulrike Schild‘s paintings and films illuminate the significance of social and nature-based community. When recording analogue film and painting on canvas, she explores motifs that oscillate between concrete form and abstract dissolution. Groups and individuals become subjects of magical realism as they often unveil forms of contemporary tradition. The incompatibility in her uxtaposition of human fragility with the monumentality of earth, bears evidence of the absurdity of contemporary human endeavor. Schild lives and works in Vienna and Cologne. Since 2020 she works as video artist in permanent residency at Volkstheater Wien.
Laura Sperl studied at the Weißensee Academy of Arts Berlin and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. She has presented solo exhibitions at the Mutuo Gallery in Barcelona, at Porgy & Bess Public Domain and at Sehsaal in Vienna, among others. Her works have also been shown in Berlin, Zagreb, London, Tokyo and Lisbon. In Vienna, she recently exhibited at PARALLEL Vienna, Foto Wien, Fotogalerie Wien, Exhibit and Bildraum 01. In 2021, she received the START Scholarship for Visual Arts of the Austrian Federal Ministry and was part of the Mentoring Programme in cooperation with the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. In 2022 she received the Talent Award of the Upper Austrian Cultural Awards in the category of photography and in 2024 an artistic scholarship by the State of Upper Austria.
Luzia Stempfer (*1996) grew up in the Innviertel region of Austria and studies Fine Arts/Experimental Arts at the University of Art and Design Linz, pursuing an interdisciplinary approach involving media such as noise, flowers, performance, photography, installation, video, light and books.
Daniel Stempfer was born in 1985 in Braunau and now lives and works in Hong Kong, China. His sculptures and installations deal with the constantly shifting boundary between culture and nature. They explore the built environment and examine contrasts, in particular the tension between permanence and transience. He analyzes how structures – both physical and mental – change over time, focusing on the material traces that these transformations leave behind.
His works have been exhibited in, among others: Mediterranea Biennale Tirana, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Xinqiao Art Museum Shanghai, W139 Amsterdam, Red Gate Gallery Beijing, Kunstverein Wiesbaden, Transmediale Berlin, Art Center Ongoing Tokyo, Traklhaus Salzburg, Salzamt Linz.
Nina Lucia Groß (*1990) grew up in the Innviertel region, studied language arts at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and art history at the University of Vienna and has lived in Hamburg for over 10 years. In November 2024 she completed her doctorate at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Hamburg. She works as an art historian, teacher and author in various contexts, focusing on the socio- and cultural history of architecture, art, pop culture and private and public collections. As a freelance curator, she has organized solo and group exhibitions as well as exhibition series in Hamburg and Jena. She has been a curator at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe since 2020. There, together with Tilman Walther, she founded and directs Freiraum, an open space for discourse and participation as well as a forum for critically questioning the collection and the responsibility of a civic institution. In 2024, she worked at the same institution as a research assistant to the director. In February 2025, the special exhibition “Glitter” opens at the MK&G, curated by Nina Lucia Groß together with Julia Meer. Nina Lucia Groß has been a board member of the Ulmer Verein since November 2024.
Dominik Gohla, born 1985 in Braunau am Inn lives in Schwand im Innkreis, Upper Austria
Exhibitions:
Sehblöcke, 2020, mańana bold, Offenbach am Main, solo
Crystal Readings, 2015, Soy Capitan, Berlin, group
Linsenlese, 2014, Jenifer Nails, Frankfurt, solo
About the skin, 2012, Commerzbanktower, Frankfurt, with Hannes Michanek
Encore, 2011, Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt, group
My corridor is your workspace, 2009, Japantower, Frankfurt, group
Willem de Rooij – master student, Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste – Städelschule, 2006 – 2011
Texts:
Sehblöcke, 2021 in Schulterblicke, edited by Felix Kosok, Aileen Treusch and Ellen Wagner, Distanzverlag
Excersise 1 / After Stephen King, 2018, with Gislind Köhler, Chris Airlines
Trance Cabin, 2016, with Elli Ferriol
Linsenlese, 2014, Grit Weber in Journal Frankfurt
About the skin, 2012, published by Commerzbank Corporate Citizenship
Das schwarze Brett, 2012, catalog text for exhibition by Thomas Kübler