Ursula Biemann
Becoming Earth

until 23.02.2025, MQ Freiraum l Tue–Sun 10-18h

Info, tickets & educational program

Swiss artist Ursula Biemann's first solo exhibition in Vienna focuses on her video works from the past ten years, in which she explores various ecological conditions, living realities and natural relationships: Forest Law (2014), Acoustic Ocean (2018), Forest Mind (2021) and Devenir Universidad (2019 - 2023). Ursula Biemann's artistic practice is research-driven, collaborative and based on traveling to remote places from Greenland to Amazonia, where she investigates climate change and the ecology of oil, ice, forests and water. "Based on field research in the forests of the Colombian Amazon, my recent art videos and collaborative action projects bring together different strands of knowledge about the intelligence of nature and the relationships between all the creatures that inhabit these spaces," says the artist. Biemann sensitively and astutely observes and analyzes the given social, knowledge-based and legal systems that shape the relationship to nature. In her multi-layered videos, she interweaves atmospheric and documentary landscape shots with science fiction poetry, individual stories, cosmological orders and scientific findings to illustrate a changing planetary reality and tell it with new narratives.

Ursula Biemann's (*1955) video installations are exhibited worldwide in museums and at international art biennials and have been described in numerous publications. She has recently had solo exhibitions at the MUAC, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Mexico City, the MAMAC in Nice and the UNAL Art Museum in Bogota. She lives in Zurich and works worldwide.

Curated by Verena Kaspar-Eisert, chief curator MuseumsQuartier

The exhibition catalogue is available on site at the MQ Freiraum.

Rodrigo Braga
Nullpunkt [Point Zero]

until 23.02.2025, MQ Freiraum l Tue–Sun, 10–18h

Info, tickets & educational program

Rodrigo Braga is a contemporary Brazilian artist who explores the complex relationships between humans and their environment through various artistic media such as performance, sculpture, video, photography, drawing, and painting. Highlighting the utilitarian exploitation of nature, his works indirectly touch on central aspects of current socio-ecological discourse. Braga addresses themes such as transformation, identity, and the vulnerability of the human body, using his own physical presence to create symbolically charged pieces that evoke emotional responses.
In this expansive installation, specifically designed for this space, Rodrigo Braga draws upon works from his series "Ponto Zero" (Point Zero), which he has been developing since 2018. Videos, photographs, and sculptures are complemented by textile works, object arrangements, and mural drawings created on site. Braga uses materials such as charcoal and limestone, an archaic substance formed hundreds of millions of years ago. The black-and-white hues of these materials represent the interdependent dualities of impermanence and growth, inner life and outer world, creation and destruction. These materials are repeatedly combined in his works, conveying the constant tension and interaction of opposing yet interdependent forces.
The egg and the eye are key symbols in “Ponto Zero”. The egg symbolizes the beginning of life, fragility, and potential, while the eye stands for consciousness, insight, and the ability to see and understand the world.
In the center of the room, the artist positions seating around the central object, which represents a symbiosis of egg and eye. Visitors are invited to linger, to meditate, or to reflect on and talk about what they perceive. Braga creates an artistic reflection on the origins, fragility, and fundamental processes of life, combining personal and universal perspectives.

Rodrigo Braga (*1976 in Manaus, Brazil) studied Fine Arts at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco in Recife. His work has been exhibited in solo presentations at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2016), and at the 30th Bienal de São Paulo (2012). He has received the PIPA prize for Brazilian Visual Art and the MASP Award for the Visual Arts – Best Emerging Talent. Rodrigo Braga lives and works in Rio de Janeiro and Paris.

Curated by Verena Kaspar-Eisert, chief curator MuseumsQuartier

The exhibition catalogue is available on site at the MQ Freiraum.

PREVIEW

herman de vries
all this
Opening: Tue 18.03.2025, 19h
19.03. – 10.08.2025 | MQ Freiraum

The artist herman de vries (*1931, Alkmaar/NL) invites us to perceive nature not as a resource, but as a living, self-determined actor - as a work of art in itself. Influenced by his early work in biological research, de vries transfers scientific methods into his artistic work in order to make the “reality” of nature visible.
Since the 1970s, herman de vries has been a collector and mediator of the “works” of nature. His artistic work includes installations with stones, flowers, wood and other materials that he finds in nature. He develops his famous earth rubs, arranges leaves from various plants and turns his wanderings into a performative act of perception. System and chance go hand in hand. Philosophical considerations play a central role in his artistic exploration of the world, and poetry also becomes an important means of expression. de vries' artistic practice unites art, life and nature into a cosmos beyond opposites.
The exhibition at MQ Freiraum presents the 93-year-old artist's fascinating oeuvre, which is both radical in its immediacy and modesty, with a large number of key installations, wall and text works from the last 50 years.

Curated by Dr. Cees de Boer (independent curator) and Verena Kaspar-Eisert (MQ chief curator).

Supported by Mondriaan Fund.

herman de vries, steigerwald kosmologie, 2008/2010
Foto: studio herman de vries / Joana Schwender

Huda Takriti
Anatomy of an Endless Scene
Opening: Tue 18.03.2025, 19h
19.03. – 10.08.2025 | MQ Freiraum

Huda Takriti (*1990 in Damaskus/SYR) explores themes such as memory, identity, migration, and the complex entanglements of personal and collective history in her interdisciplinary practice. Through the use of archival materials, found objects, and personal narratives, she questions and recontextualizes historical and societal narratives. In two video works presented at MQ Freiraum, she delves deeply into the dynamics of power, time, historiography, and transmission.

Curated by Verena Kaspar-Eisert (MQ Chief Curator).

Abbildung: Clarity is the closest wound to the sun © Huda Takriti