Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder

How can we establish networks within society in an urban environment by interacting with other people every day? How are social spaces created, and who decides in what way and for how long they can be used? Sonia Leimer’s current works visualize the “social capital” in cities, to use a term coined by the urbanist and activist Jane Jacobs in the 1960s. Leimer’s new series „Awning“ revolves around urban development and direct democracy – relevant issues in society that are more pressing today than ever before. These new works offer us the chance to explore the key questions of who occupies the urban realm, and what scope of action these spaces allow.

SONIA LEIMER was born 1977 in Meran, Italy. She lives and works in Vienna. She studied architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. She was invited to participate in the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale and the Vienna Biennale for Change at the MAK Museum für angewandte Kunst (Museum for Applied Arts) in Vienna. She took part in the Vladivostok Biennale for Visual Arts in 2017, the Moscow Biennale in 2013 and 2015, and the Manifesta 7 in Rovereto in 2008. Selected solo exhibitions: MAN_Museo d’Arte Provincia di Nuoro, Sardinia (2021); KOW, Berlin (2021); Museion, Bolzano (2020); Soravia – The Brick, Vienna (2020); Arbeiterkammer Wien, Vienna (2019); ISCP, International Studio & Curatorial Program, New York City (2019); Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck (2017); Commonwealth & Council, Los Angeles (2017); Austrian Cultural Forum, Istanbul (2017); LAMOA Museum of Art, Los Angeles (2014); Artothek, Cologne (2012); MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles (2012); Kunstverein Basis, Frankfurt/Main (2011); Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg (2011).

The Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder represents a living tradition of exploring contemporary art. Since the 1950s, it has been located in the centre of Vienna. Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, the gallery’s director since 1978 and owner since 1987, exhibits artists who represent international positions of abstraction and concept-based art. The gallery’s program revolves around promoting a new visuality and discursiveness of art that is firmly rooted in the present day. The gallery was the first to exhibit Minimal and Conceptual Art in Austria and in its many publications and symposia. The gallery continues to focus on the importance of discourse and art theory, also as a basis of artistic production. In 2020 the gallery inaugurated a new exhibition space (Domgasse 6) in a historic building adject to the main gallery. Together with the window gallery (Login), this is the third space showing a regular exhibition program.