VIENNA.- Kunsthalle Wien presents the most extensive survey of the Viennese contemporary art scene organised by the institution in over a decade. For six months, across all of its spaces in the Museumsquartier and at Karlsplatz, Lebt und arbeitet in Wien will bring together over 130 artworks by 56 artists who live and work in Vienna, including painting, sculpture, installation, drawing, photography, performance, sound, film and video. Accompanied by a public programme of talks, performances and events, it places emphasis on the city as a dynamic space of production where art is shaped by a critical approach to the forces of conservatism and a sense of its own agency.

Initially organised by Kunsthalle Wien in 2000, the fifth edition of Lebt und arbeitet in Wien builds upon a longstanding tradition of celebrating Vienna’s lively artistic discourse and diverse community of artists. Curated by Daniel Baumann, Michelle Cotton and Monika Georgieva, it focuses on new and recent works with 38 artists commissioned specifically for the exhibition and numerous artworks presented in Vienna for the first time.

Vienna is approached here as a porous city shaped by ongoing movement, where artists arrive, depart and return: In the last ten years, artists from various cultural backgrounds transformed the city into an exceptionally vibrant place for contemporary art. The exhibition reflects this development, with artists from 42 cities in 18 countries, artists of different generations and at different stages of their career. It also celebrates the many different forms of artistic practice that the city supports; from the new schools of painting to institutional critique, performance and political practice; from sculpture to photography; filmmaking to ceramics; from portraiture to abstraction. Furthermore, it reflects the city’s unique form of social discourse; from the coffeehouses of the last century to the vast array of artist-run project spaces established across the city in this one; ideas are tested, refined and take hold in the public sphere. As such the exhibition pays tribute to the city’s community of artists at large; their self-organised approach to claiming space and their manifold ways of experimenting with content and form. In focusing upon these multiplicities, the survey is not only an invitation to explore and to celebrate what is, but also a call to discuss what could be.

The exhibition is accompanied by a public programme involving numerous institutional and cultural partners including Curated by, Independent Space Index, IKL – Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Klima Biennale Wien, kültüř gemma!, MuseumsQuartier Wien, Phileas, PW-Magazine, TU Wien and Verein Ohrenschmaus. A series of talks on living and working in Vienna began with Die erhitzte Stadt [The Heated City] and continues with Die lebenswerteste Stadt [The Most Liveable City], Die arbeitende Stadt [The Working City] and Die geheime Stadt [The Secret City]. Vienna as a city for artists forms the framework for another series with contributions from the exhibition’s curators and invited artists. The longest day of the year, the summer solstice on Sunday 21 June 2026, will be marked by a day of performance curated by PW-Magazine, an online publication dedicated to live arts. This will feature performances by Bryony Dawson, Paul Ebhart, Alix Eynadi, Han-Gyeol Lee, Maria Mercedes (Julia Müllner & Camilla Schielin), Sainkho Namtchylak, Evelyn Plaschg and Frank Wasser, hosted across Kunsthalle Wien’s venues.

The exhibition is accompanied by a new publication initially released for the opening of the exhibition in German, and subsequently in English complete with installation views. Commissioned texts address the artists’ work in 56 short essays by Chris Clarke, Christian Egger, Leonie Huber, Michał Leszuk, Simone Molinari, Vanessa Joan Müller and Inga Charlotte Thiele. The book also includes two conversations that attempt to trace the legacy of Lebt und arbeitet in Wien and reflect upon the situation today with contributions from Helene Baur, Margherita Belcredi, Sabine Breitwieser, Severin Dünser, Anna Jermolaewa, Peter Kogler, Bettina Leidl, Fiona Liewehr, Dorit Margreiter Choy, Bruno Mokross, Vanessa Joan Müller, Susanna Neuburger, Peter Pakesch, Francis Ruyter, Georg Schöllhammer, Eva-Maria Stadler, Nadim Vardag, Martin Vesely, Rita Vitorelli, Sabine B. Vogel and Jun Yang. These artists, curators, critics and other key figures discuss the conditions for artists living and working in the city today in comparison to recent decades that preceded and accompanied the first editions of Lebt und arbeitet in Wien.

A series of artist’s editions is being produced to be sold alongside the exhibition to support Kunsthalle Wien’s programme.