13.12.2025 – 01.02.2026
Traditionally, the last exhibition of the year is dedicated to the members of the Kunstverein. The 2025 annual exhibition of the Salzburger Kunstverein, curated by magazin53a, is dedicated to the concept of vacuum in both its physical and ideal form. This encompasses a spectrum that – based on scientific principles – also includes cultural transfers and possible aesthetic practices. From the ancient ‘horror vacui’ to the first vacuum experiments in technical physics in the 17th century to today’s quantum physics, our understanding of ‘emptiness’ has changed radically. What was once considered a frightening, absolute void is now understood by quantum mechanics as a space full of particle fluctuations and potentials. From the outset, the vacuum has been both a scientific phenomenon and a theoretical concept.
In this tradition, magazin53a invites us to reactivate the vacuum as a conceptual tool for discussing questions of space, presence and absence, participation and social conditions – as an exploration of what is hidden, repressed or not yet realised. A decisive factor here may be, for example, that from a physical point of view, a vacuum describes a space of reduced density in which the pressure is lower than atmospheric pressure. Here, the vacuum becomes a starting point for socio-political considerations.
Artists: Ani Gurashvili, Ulrike Königshofer, Melanie Moser, Luz Olivarez Capelle, Martin Sommer, Manuel Tozzi, Francisco Valença Vaz, Bartholomaeus Wächter and Kay Walkowiak.
Vacuum. Annual Exhibition 2025/26
13.12.2025 – 01.02.2026
Salzburger Kunstverein
Hellabrunner Straße 3
5020 Salzburg
www.salzburger-kunstverein.at
