Elisabeth Weissensteiner's path into arts started by studying German language and art history at the University of Vienna. She obtained her PhD on a topic in literature under Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler in 1983. These intellectual roots are still characteristic for her approach to art: a subtle investigation of sense, of the space in-between is present in all her art work. Also a curiosity and a desire to explore is driving her, being suspicious towards default paths. Her art is often leaving us uncomfortable, being ourselves questioned in our certainties.
Elisabeth worked as an artist since her PhD. She soon became member of the Künstlerhaus, Vienna's oldest artist society, obtained a work study grant of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (Maine, USA, 1988), and is also a trained graphic designer (WiFi Designzentrum Pöchlarn (TAFE), Austria, 1995). Elisabeth has exhibited and studied in many countries (USA, China, France, Denmark, Germany, Hungary). Her work is represented in federal, state and regional public collections. She maintains links to academia as visiting lecturer and reviewer (Akademie der Künste, Vienna; RMIT University, Melbourne) and in projects linking science and arts (The University of Melbourne; University of Bremen).
Artist's Statement
I am looking for signs of life in our everyday world. I find my forms and materials where we get our necessary supplies. Surprisingly traces of plant and animal life can be discovered in a technical and goal oriented environment. To construct my sculptures I employ techniques which are readily available in our (urban) culture, techniques which we take for granted without hesitating.
My objects are both artificial and natural. They consist of natural materials with their spontaneously palpable aesthetics and of those materials, which make up our daily lives. The results are hybrids, both grown and manufactured. The borderline between natural forms and shaped nature fascinates me. Beyond this borderline space opens up for interpretation and critical identification.
According to that ambiguity many objects offer an inside and an outside. Often there is tension between the two. They will not necessarily complement each other. Not always has the outside to protect, not always will the inside be vulnerable. The surface itself provides the metaphor for vulnerability - the skin. Skin may be called a building’s walls (at least in German language) as well as the membrane of an insect wing.
Maybe my topic is the quest itself: where am I in this world not made by man and still not conceivable without him? How can I become clear about myself being both coined by my surroundings and an independently thinking individual?
Elisabeth Weissensteiner, Melbourne 2004
Elisabeth is represented by:
Anna Pappas Gallery
2 Carlton Street
Prahran, Victoria 3181
Australia
Tel +61 3 859 89915
Fax +61 3 859 89914
info@annapappasgallery.com
http://www.annapappasgallery.com
kunstraumarcade
Hauptstrasse 79
2340 Mödling
Austria
Tel +43 2236 860457
arcade@artprint.at
http://www.artprint.at
Galerie Michaela Stock
Schleifmühlgasse 18
1040 Wien
Austria
phone: +43 1 920 7778
info@galerie-stock.net
http://www.galerie-stock.net
Galerie Ulrike Hrobsky
Grünangergasse 6
1010 Wien
Austria
Tel +43 1 513 7676
Fax +43 1 513 7609
office@galerie-hrobsky.at
http://www.hrobsky.at
Solo Shows (selected)
| 2009 | What Remains Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne |
| 2009 | Wolkenkuckucksheim ("Cloud Cuckoo Land") Interactive computer installation 22 screen and 860 random image transitions permanently installed at Cognitive Systems, University of Bremen (supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and Hanse Institute for Advanced Studies) (detail, 2MB) |
| 2009 | Verknüpfungen Photo-based work and sculpture, Hanse Institute for Advanced Studies, Delmenhorst, Germany (pdf) |
| 2009 | Verknüpfungen Photo-based work and sculpture, Art-Station Kollmitzberg, Lower Austria |
| 2007 | Verknüpfungen Photo-based work and sculpture, Galerie am Lieglweg, Vienna, Austria |
| 2006 | Introspectatio Über Gallery, Melbourne, Australia |
| 2006 | I See - I Site - I Sight Two Lines Gallery, Beijing, China (with Maggie McCormick and Tony Scott) |
| 2005 | Pink Pouches Gasworks Arts Park, Melbourne, Australia |
| 2005 | Within Without Linden - St Kilda Centre for Contemporary Arts, Melbourne, Australia |
| 2004 | New Work Gallery Chapman&Bailey, Melbourne, Australia |
| 2004 | Lebzelter / Weissensteiner Galerie Ulrike Hrobsky, Vienna (with Georg Lebzelter) |
| 2001 | Herz-Schmerz Galerie kunstraumarcade, Mödling, Austria (with Flora Zimmeter and Kerstin Cmelka) |
| 2000 | Dingfest Kunstwerkstatt Tulln, Austria |
| 1999 | Gallery Cachet, Vienna (with Helga Cmelka) |
| 1998 | Museum der Stadt Lienz, Austria (with Christine de Pauli) |
| 1997 | Galerie Tiller, Vienna (with Helga Cmelka) |
| 1996 | Schalen-Weise Blaugelbe Galerie, Vienna, Austria |
| 1995 | Galerie Inge Freund, Klagenfurt, Austria |
| 1994 | Galerie kunstraumarcade, Mödling,Austria |
| 1994 | Galerie Unart, Villach, Austria |
| 1992 | Meine Augen durchwandern ... ATP Architekten & Ingenieure, Vienna, Austria (with Brigitte Lang) |
Juried Shows (selected)
| 2006 | De Natura Künstlerhaus Wien, Vienna, Austria |
| 2005 | Sculpture by the Sea International sculpture exhibition, Sydney, Australia |
| 2004 | Sculpture by the Sea International sculpture exhibition, Sydney, Australia |
| 1997 | Fiberart International 97 International Biennale, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, USA |
| 1995 | Fiberart International 95 International Biennale, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, USA |
| 1990 | International Felt Symposium, Aarhus, Denmark |
| 1990 | Textile Arts Festival '90, Bradford, UK |
Invited Shows (selected)
| 2006 | Global Fusion Close UP International group show, Palais Porcia, Vienna, Austria |
| 2006 | Melbourne Art Fair Represented by Über Gallery, Melbourne, Australia |
| 2005 | Artists Curate Artists My space basement, Vienna, Austria |
| 2004 | Licht und Schatten Blaugelbe Galerie Zwettl, Austria |
| 2002 | Sehsession #1 Projekttheater Studio, Jazzfest Wien, Vienna |
| 2001 | Work with Paper NÖ Dokumentationszentrum für moderne Kunst, St. Pölten, Austria |
| 1998 | 7 Vitrinen Künstlerhaus Vienna, Austria |
| 1998 | Kunst in der Landschaft Gut Gasteil, Austria |
| 1998 | 14th Symposium International Fiber Art, Graz, Austria |
| 1998 | Knot as They Seam: Puns and Permutations in the
Fiber Arts Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, USA |
| 1997 | Papier, Textil und andere Materialien Saarländisches Künstlerhaus, Saarbrücken, Germany |
| 1995 | Lebens-Kunst Barcelona, Spain |
| 1994 | Fahnenfestival Krems, Austria |
| 1991 | Ineinander Musee du Feutre, France |
Curated Shows
| 2005 | Wandering between the Worlds. 10 artists between Austria and Australia, Künstlerhaus Wien, Vienna, Austria |
| 2004 | Egremont - A Show in a Suitcase. Group show of Australian artists, Galerie kunstraumarcade, Mödling, Austria |
Public Commissions (selection)
| 2010 |
Linking Laverton, Hobsons Bay City Council (shortlisted) |
| 2009 |
Cognitive Systems, University of Bremen, Germany |
| 2009 | Cyril Curtain Reserve, Hobsons Bay City Council (shortlisted) |
| 2009 | St Kilda Memorial Hall
Redevelopment, CH
Architects, Melbourne
(Finalist "Best Contribution to Urban Art", City of Port Phillip Design Development Awards 2010) |
| 2008 | Clarinda Community Center, City of Kingston, Melbourne |
| 1999 | Fruchtkapseln, Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, Austria |
| 1998 | Puzzle, Gerstnergasse, Kindergarten of the City of Vienna, Austria |
| 1998 | Füllhorn, Bank Austria, Austria |
| 1996 | Flügel, Bank Austria, Austria |
Public Collections (selection)
| Department of Arts, Republic of Austria | |
| Museum of Lower Austria | |
| Musee du Feutre, Mouzon, France | |
| City of Lienz, Austria | |
| City of Mödling, Austria |
Art Related Activities
- Art and Space. Presentation for CH Architects, Melbourne (2010)
- Panel discussion member: Creating Art in Public Spaces. Art and Social Space, Architects for Peace, RMIT University (2010)
- Wolkenkuckucksheim - Where Art and Science Find Common Ground. Fellow Lecture at Hanse Institute for Advanced Study, Delmenhorst near Bremen, Germany (2009)
- Artist in Residence, Hanse Institute for Advanced Studies, Bremen, Germany (2009)
- Artist in Residence, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China (2006)
- Visiting Lecturer, RMIT University, Melbourne Australia (2005)
- Visiting Lecturer, University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria
- Member, Künstlerhaus Wien, Austria
- Founder, conTEXTILES, Vienna, Austria
- Look
at me! Art and geomatics project has collaboration in sight.
Melbourne University Staff/Student E-News, Issue 36, May 2010.
(local copy) - Joy and Grief in St Kilda. Xth City of Port Phillip
Design Development Awards 2010
(local copy) - Intelligente Türschilder: Kunst und Infos an den
Cartesium Türen. Bremer Uni-Zeitung No. 109, p. 5, 2009
(local copy) - I See, I Site, I Sight.
NY Arts Magazine, November-December 2006.
(local copy) - Interview by Ella Mudie in Nothingmagazine, Issue 12,
2006
(local copy) - Art & Australia Magazine 44(1) 2006
(local copy) - Profile: Dr Elisabeth Weissensteiner
SBS Radio, interview by Christian Froelicher, broadcasted on 28 October 2006
(mp3 | real) - "Elisabeth Weissensteiner: Intro-Spectatio",
absolutearts.com
(local copy) - On the front page of Port Phillip Leader, 14.11.2006
(local copy) - Internationale Ausstellung Palais Porcia: Global
Fusion - Close Up 2006.
Wiener Zeitung, 14. September 2006 - Interview.
Metropolis, Beijing, China, August 2006, page 16 - Khadija Carroll (2005): Within Without. Sculpture
Magazine 24(3), web supplement.
(local copy) - Coming up rose. Herald Sun, 30 November 2005, page
64.
(local copy) - Wandering between the Worlds
Kurier 15.7.2005
(local copy) - Dagmar Travner, Platons Mythos.
Morgen, Kulturzeitschrift aus Niederösterreich, 05/2004 - Zeitgenössische
Textilkunst im Wirkungsbereich Deutschland-Österreich-Schweiz.
Verlag Hollinek, Wien 1995 - Fiberarts Design Book 3, Larkbooks 1987
