Brigitte Kowanz

Brigitte Kowanz studied at University of Applied Arts Vienna. The recorded working language is German. Places of work recorded in the authority are Vienna. Employment is recorded with University of Applied Arts Vienna. Works named in the authority record are MQ Libelle and Beyond Recall (Salzburg). Work by Brigitte Kowanz is recorded in the collections of Belvedere. Distinctions recorded are City of Vienna Prize for Fine Arts.

Since the 1980s, Brigitte Kowanz's work focused on the investigation of space and light. At the beginning of this period, between 1979 and 1984, she produced paper and screen images with phosphorescent and fluorescent pigments in collaboration with Franz Graf. From 1984, Kowanz developed her first light objects from bottles, fluorescent lamps and fluorescent paint. Complex spatial images and light-shadow-projections were created using the simplest of means. However, light is not only a material, but also often a topic of Kowanz's works. For example, she was engaged with the speed of light in a personal complex of works since 1989. A very small decimal number in neon figures indicates the time that the light needs to cover the length of this sequence of numbers. One complex issue that Kowanz was engaged in since the 1980s is that of language and writing and its translation into codes. Light was investigated as a space-forming medium as well as an information carrier and medium of knowledge and visibility. From 1995, Kowanz also regularly used the morse alphabet – based on simple dash-dot combinations – for coding purposes. As a binary code, it represents the origin of the transfer of information using light. Kowanz used (semi-)transparent glasses and mirrors, especially in her later works. This led to a diverse overlaying of the virtual and the real in her three-dimensional objects. The mutual reflection of light, language and mirror (Rainer Fuchs) produces hybrid spaces whose boundaries seem to be clearly defined at one moment, but gone again the next. Real space and virtual reflection penetrate each other, the boundaries between artwork and observer became fluid. The occupation with the intangible physics of light, which – although a guarantee of visibility – is itself slightly overlooked, persists in the works of Brigitte Kowanz.

Kowanz lived and worked in Vienna. She died on 28 January 2022, at the age of 64. Brigitte Kowanz was the daughter of the well-known footballer Karl Kowanz (1926-1998), her mother Edith worked as a clerk, her older brother Karl (* 1951) became a graphic artist. Brigitte Kowanz graduated from the Kunstgymnasium Wien in 1975, then studied - like her brother before her - at the Hochschule für angewandte Kunst, graduating in 1980 with a Magister Artium. Brigitte Kowanz's son, Adrian Kowanz (*1995), a trained art historian and close collaborator for many years, has been managing her estate ever since.

• 2020 Brigitte Kowanz - Lost under the Surface, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich • 2019 Cairo Biennale, Cairo • 2017 La Biennale di Venezia, Austrian Pavillon, Venice • 2013 Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New York • 2013 Lightshow, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, London • 2012 Borusan | Contemporary, Istanbul (solo exhibition) • 2012 MACRO, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rome • 2011 Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck (solo exhibition) • 2010 MUMOK, Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna (solo exhibition) • 2007 Kunsthalle Krems (solo exhibition) • 2006 Lichtkunst aus Kunstlicht, ZKM, Karlsruhe • 2004 Stadtlicht – Lichtkunst, Lehmbruck-Museum, Duisburg • 2001 Austrian Contemporary Art Exhibition, Shanghai Art Museum • 2000 Farbe zu Licht, Fondation Beyeler, Basel • 1995 Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (NBK), Berlin • 1993 Wiener Secession (solo exhibition) • 1990 Biennale of Sydney • 1989 Prospect, Frankfurter Kunstverein • 1987 São Paulo Art Biennial • 1984 Aperto, Venice Biennale

• Illustration — Lünerseepark Bürs • 2020 Light Circles, MQ-Libelle in Vienna's Museumsquartier • 2010/2012 Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz • 2010/2011 Staatsbrücke bridge, Salzburg • 2009/2010 Volksbank AG, Vienna • 2007–2008 Museum Liaunig, Neuhaus • 2006–2007 Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Münster • 2003/2005 DKV, Cologne • 2003/2004 Regional Music School, Windischgarsten • 2001/2004 Jacob Burckhardt House, Basel • 2002/2004 LGT Liechtenstein, Vaduz • 2001 BUWOG, Vienna • 1999/2000 ARD Capital Studio, Berlin • 1999 Lünerseepark, Bürs • 1995/99 Peter Merian House, Bahnhof Ost railway station, Basel

• Albertina, Vienna • Lentos Art Museum, Linz • mumok – museum of modern art ludwig foundation vienna • State Museum of Lower Austria, St. Pölten • Essl Collection, Klosterneuburg • Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna • Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna • Tyrolean State Museum, Innsbruck

• Centre for International Light Art (Unna) • Museion (Bolzano) • Museum Ritter (Waldenbuch) • Museo de Bellas Artes (Caracas) • Kunstmuseum Celle • Fundación ARCO (Madrid) • Borusan Art Collection (Istanbul) • Kunsthalle Weishaupt (Ulm) • Schauwerk Sindelfingen