Brigitte Kowanz at Schlossmuseum Linz
Now on view: ‘ISTR’ by Brigitte Kowanz at Schlossmuseum Linz
Brigitte Kowanz (1957 – 2022), one of Austria’s most renowned and important artists, will be exhibited at the Schlossmuseum Linz. Born in Vienna, she studied sculpture at the University of Applied Arts from 1975 to 1980, and even then her main interest was in the light-generated media of video, film and photography. In demarcation from the figurative and neo-expressionist tendencies in the new wild painting, she sought an analytical examination of light-related phenomena of perception and their effects on a traditional concept of the image, which she questioned and consistently expanded from the very beginning.
For Brigitte Kowanz, light was a universal substance, the basis of all life, a substance that makes everything visible but always needs material to show itself. The multiple award-winning artist has developed her works with light over a period of more than 40 years and occupies a distinctive position in recent art history. Her work is considered conceptual poetry.
“ISTR” is a coherent spatial installation on which Brigitte Kowanz worked until shortly before her death and which is now being realised according to her designs.
Brigitte Kowanz | ISTR April 29, 2022 – July 22, 2022 Schlossmuseum Linz
ABOUT Brigitte Kowanz
Brigitte Kowanz (1957-2022) is known for her evocative sculptures, installations, and environments with a decidedly non-physical medium: light. Since the early 1980s, she has been exploring both the utilitarian and conceptual resonances of light with neon tubing, LED bulbs, aluminum, mirrors, and text. She draws upon such multidisciplinary sources as advertising, architecture, film, music, and the history of painting for inspiration. Through her use of mirrors, Kowanz aims to break down the boundaries between art and life, drawing viewers into her illuminated visions. Kowanz studied from 1975 to 1980 at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. She has been Professor of Transmedial Art there since 1997.
