The Kunsthalle Vienna Prize aims to support emerging artists who live and work in Vienna and to promote discourse on contemporary art as part of an annual cooperation with the two art universities. The prize, which was awarded together by the Kunsthalle Vienna, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the University of Applied Arts Vienna, is awarded one graduate in the two art universities by an expert jury.
For this year’s prize, the juries examined diploma thesis from the Institute for Fine Arts at the Academy as well as diploma theses and master projects from the Institute for Fine Art and Medial Art on the applied. Over 100 graduates submitted their work. Two artists were selected for a joint solo exhibition in the Kunsthalle Vienna from November 2025:
Jonida Laçi Studied art and space in the departments | Object as well as art and time | Media at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and was for their installation Ajar (2025) awarded the Kunsthalle Vienna Prize. The work merges video projections, sculptures and a ready-made. Projectors and tripods are used as sculptural figures. Laçi subtly changes formal and spatial relationships in order to examine the influence of focus and frame on the reception and perception of art and media.
Louise Nezbertewho studied in the class for sculpture and space at the University of Applied Arts, was for We could listen much longer, but it is late by now (2025) awarded the Kunsthalle Vienna Prize. The jury convinced Nežberte with its extensive installation, which resulted from its examination of found objects and historical forms to uncover their material and cultural stories. The focus is on a meeting house from the early 18th century in Gaide, Latvia, where the Herrnhut brothers’ community fundamentally changed the Latvian society through reformatory initiatives. The sculptural interventions created from dealing with this topic refer to the overlap between personal memory, traditional architecture and historiography.
Exhibition opening
Date: Thursday, November 6, 2025, 7 p.m.
Location: Kunsthalle Vienna Karlsplatz
Exhibition opening
Datum: 06.11.2025, 7:00 p.m.
Art: Exhibitions
Ort: Kunsthalle Vienna Karlsplatz
Treitlstraße 2
1040 Wien
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