03.07.2026 – 08.11.2026
With *Hyle*, Kunstraum Dornbirn presents Michail Pirgelis’s first institutional solo exhibition in Austria. In his artistic practice, Michail Pirgelis approaches the subject of sculpture on multiple levels. His works explore the boundaries of our understanding of objects and expand the experience of the sculptural in novel ways. The artist works with found materials, which he has collected over the last 20 years from decommissioned passenger aircraft, found primarily in American aircraft graveyards in the Mojave Desert of California and Nevada. Rows of windows, aircraft floors or aluminium outer walls are cut out and further processed in his Cologne studio into wall works or freestanding sculptures. For the artist, the individual parts possess certain inherent qualities that arise from their structural and architectural properties, and which Pirgelis incorporates into his compositions: geometric patterns, human traces of use such as codes or markings, as well as perforations and rivets. Traces of wear and weathering, for example from the sun or sandstorms, are also visible on the surfaces. Through scraping, sanding and polishing, Pirgelis reveals details and structures or makes visible what would otherwise remain hidden. Targeted interventions and fragmentation enable him to transform the material towards abstraction.
Michail Pirgelis – HYLE
03.07.2026 – 08.11.2026
Kunstraum Dornbirn
Jahngasse 9
6850 Dornbirn
www.kunstraumdornbirn.at
