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Dear ,

We warmly invite you to the solo exhibition Light Is What We See by Brigitte Kowanz at the ALBERTINA Museum. The retrospective at the ALBERTINA guides viewers through works created by the pioneering artist since the 1980s.

The exhibition of Brigitte Kowanz at the ALBERTINA explores the central question, "What is light?" to which the artist answers, "Light is what we see" – a statement that addresses the paradox of light, which makes the world visible yet remains invisible itself. In the exhibition, light is presented as a fleeting, immaterial phenomenon, with mirrored rooms and ultraviolet light creating infinite reflections. Featured are significant works from Kowanz's career since the 1980s, including the iconic pieces Morsealphabet and Email 02.08.1984 03.08.1984. The exhibition is on view from 18 July to 9 November, 2025.

Opening and Flying Dinner

Light Is What We See

Brigitte Kowanz

Thursday, 17 July 2025

6 pm

Please RSVP by Sunday, 13 July 2025.

Mandatory fields (*)

The exhibition at the ALBERTINA includes seminal works by Kowanz such as Light Steps (1990), a rarely shown minimalist staircase of black light tubes, which serves as a historical anchor point. More recent works, including her Flashback series (1988/2021), reflect Kowanz's tendency to revisit and transform her earlier concepts, bridging past and present within the continuum of light.

Both works were presented in 4≠4, Brigitte Kowanz's 2023 solo exhibition at max goelitz Berlin, in which she transformed the gallery into a black light space – showcasing her phosphorescent and fluorescent works within a spatial installation for the first time.

The private view linked below includes selected available works from the ALBERTINA presentation as well as additional works from the same series.

Light Steps, 1990

Black light tubes

Dimensions variable

Ed. 1/3

Flashback Look Ahead, 2021

Fluorescent lamps, reflecting textile, cable, fluorescent paint, glass and aluminum

110 x 167 x 12 cm

Ed. 1/3

browse available works

The Austrian artist Brigitte Kowanz (1957-2022) made light her primary artistic medium. She continuously examined its different qualities and manifestations via objects, installations, and spatial interventions using various illuminants. The medium of light is made tangible and treated as an independent phenomenon, material, and information carrier, as well as a metaphor for a search for new forms of representation of visible reality. Kowanz combines language – for instance political statements and news transmissions – with formal aesthetics, illustrating that light is not just a neutral vehicle for information, but plays a decisive role in shaping it.

artist's page