viennacontemporary is proud to present this year’s awards, underscoring our commitment to supporting artists and galleries. Recognition of their work is a fundamental cornerstone for what we do as a platform, providing them with the economic resources and symbolic capital to build meaningful connections with Vienna’s cultural fabric, including our most prestigious art institutions.

2025 Münze Österreich Prize
Winner: Kateryna Lysovenko (UA), represented by TBA Gallery (Warsaw)

viennacontemporary is proud to present the Münze Österreich Prize, a new annual award launched in partnership with the Münze Österreich (Austrian Mint) and the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts. The prize celebrates outstanding artistic achievement and offers an exceptional institutional display opportunity for artists at a mid-career stage.*

Open to all galleries participating in the fair, the award grants a total prize fee of €35,000, including the production of an exhibition presented at the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts in 2026, which will be on view from September 16 to October 18, 2026, coinciding with viennacontemporary 2026.

After touring the fair on Thursday, 11 September, the international jury composed of Lilli Hollein (General Director, MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna), Helmut Andexlinger (Head of the Engraving Department, Austrian Mint, Vienna), Adam Budak (Director, MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art, Krakow), Yilmaz Dziewior (Director, Museum Ludwig, Cologne), and Filipa Oliveira (Director, National Museum of Contemporary Art – Chiado Museum, Lisbon) – has announced) – announced Kateryna Lysovenko (UA), represented by TBA Gallery (Warsaw), as the award recipient.

* The inaugural Münze Österreich Prize will support an outstanding artist at a mid-career stage – mid-career understood not only in terms of age but also in artistic trajectory, for artists who are beyond emerging yet not fully established.

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2025 viennacontemporary | Bildrecht SOLO Award
Winner: Natalia Sýkorová (SLO) and VUNU (Vienna / Bratislava / Košice)

The viennacontemporary | Bildrecht SOLO Award 2025, in cooperation with Bildrecht, honors an outstanding solo presentation at the fair. The prize, endowed with €6,000, is split equally between the awarded artist and the gallery. All solo presentations were considered, with the jury placing particular focus on young, emerging positions whose artistic practice stands out in the international context alongside established voices.

The award also highlights the special commitment of participating galleries, especially those experimenting with innovative presentation formats that refl ect their curatorial vision.

After thorough review, the jury – consisting of Sandro Droschl (Founding Director and Curator, HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark, Graz), Frederike Sperling (Artistic Director, Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Vienna), Florian Steininger (Artistic Director, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems an der Donau), Tina Teufel (Curator for Contemporary Art, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Salzburg), and Paula Watzl (Editor-in-Chief and Head of Online Content, PARNASS Kunstmagazin, Vienna), together with Günter Schönberger and Esther Hladik from Bildrecht – announced the winners: Natalia Sýkorová (SLO) and VUNU (Vienna / Bratislava / Košice).

Jury statement: “The presentation of Natalia Sýkorová at VUNU, Zone 1, features sculptural arrangements in a multisensory ensemble infused with performative gestures. It deconstructs infrastructural complexities, while the element of water
PRESS INFORMATION VIENNA, SEPTEMBER 2025
unfolds in its multilayered relations. Open containers, organic forms, extended prostheses, and the ambivalence between destruction and healing testify to the fragility of human existence in interplay with nature. At the same time, technical components, abstracted from their original function, are given new life. With the award to VUNU, the jury of the viennacontemporary | Bildrecht SOLO Award also emphasizes the relevance of the gallery location in Bratislava and acknowledges the gallery’s new presence on Florianigasse in Vienna.”

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2024 Arts For Stronger Democracies: Ulrike Müller | MEYER*KAINER

In cooperation with the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, viennacontemporary launched the Art for Stronger Democracies Prize in 2024, honoring artistic practices that champion democratic values, civic engagement, and societal progress.

The inaugural award went to artist Ulrike Müller (represented by MEYER*KAINER) for her mural The Conference of the Animals (A Mural), 2020, first presented at Queens Museum, New York. Reinterpreting Erich Kästner’s allegorical children’s book, Müller’s vivid abstraction becomes a powerful meditation on collective action, diversity, and democratic renewal.

The international jury praised the work for its universal language of democracy, creating a space for negotiation, imagination, and more-than-human perspectives on peace and participation. They emphasized that in turbulent times, art can offer radical imagination and visions of possible futures.

The award grants a total prize fee of €10,000, to be divided equally between the winning artist, and their gallery.

(Rug (por ahora), 2022), which is one of Müller’s tapestries related to the winning mural (The Conference of the Animals (A Mural), 2020), will be showcased at viennacontemporary 2025, underlining the fair’s commitment towards art as a catalyst for dialogue and societal progress.

About the artist: Ulrike Müller (*1971, Austria) works across painting, drawing, and installation. Known for her innovative use of abstraction, she blends feminist and queer perspectives with modernist traditions. Her practice, which frequently explores themes of community and representation, has been featured internationally, including at the Venice Biennale (2019), the Carnegie International (2018), and the Whitney Biennial (2017).

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2024 Sculpture Project: Lukas Thaler | Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman

viennacontemporary and JP Immobilien are pleased to present the winner of the second edition of the Sculpture Project, Lukas Thaler (represented by Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman). Thaler was selected for his proposal Seating Variations (Bench #1, #2, #3), a trio of engraved limestone sculptures that merge functionality with conceptual resonance and aesthetic innovation.

The modular benches, inscribed with phrases such as “This is it, there is nothing else”, “incredibly vague”, and “this changes everything”, create spaces for reflection, conversation, and rest. By combining the permanency of stone with text and open-ended arrangement, Thaler reimagines public sculpture as a site of dialogue and interpersonal exchange. The jury praised the project for its ability to invite both physical engagement and intellectual questioning, bridging material form with social meaning.

Seating Variations (Bench #1, #2, #3) will be unveiled and presented in the Foyer of Messe Wien Halle D during viennacontemporary 2025 (September 11–14), offering visitors the opportunity to experience the work firsthand. The prize, initiated by JP Immobilien in collaboration with viennacontemporary, highlights the significance of public art in shaping shared spaces and fostering community dialogue.

About the artist: Lukas Thaler (*1989) explores the intersections of material, form, and meaning. His sculptures often combine manual craftsmanship with digital processes, creating objects that animate the inanimate and spark dialogue between abstraction and reality. His work has been shown across Europe and internationally, including at Belvedere 21 and Ed. Varie . Since 2024, he has been represented by Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman. He lives and works in Vienna.

 

Photo © Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman / Marlene Mautner