From Vienna to Bregenz, 2026 promises an exciting year for art in Austria: Marina Abramović returns with a major retrospective, Anni Albers will be presented in Austria in depth for the first time, and artists like Mire Lee, Marianna Simnett, and Sandra Mujinga will shape key institutions with new installations and performances. Complementing the exhibition program, major art fairs and curated festivals will bring together national and international art scenes. Here is an overview of the most important exhibitions in Austria in 2026:

Kunsthaus Bregenz – Cyprien Gaillard (June 13 – October 4, 2026, Bregenz)

The exhibition by French artist Cyprien Gaillard at Kunsthaus Bregenz is a highlight of the year. Gaillard’s work combines film, sculpture, architecture, photography, and sound, exploring the fragile balance between urban history and social dynamics. In Bregenz, he develops new filmic works and sculptural interventions tailored to the building’s architecturally clear structure. These pieces address so-called “deterrents” – spatial strategies that make control, displacement, or regulation in public spaces visible. Gaillard’s artworks create an intense dialogue between perception, power structures, and the spatial experience of the viewer.

KUB Project Bregenz – Florentina Holzinger: Étude (August 2026, Bregenz)

Austrian performance artist Florentina Holzinger develops a site-specific project for the summer lakeside installations in Bregenz. In her performance practice, physical presence, boundary-pushing experiences, and choreographed movement are central. Étude combines landscape, water, space, and movement into an immersive experience that breaks traditional boundaries between audience and artwork, turning nature into an active projection surface for artistic expression.

Vienna Secession – Marianna Simnett (March 6 – May 24, 2026, Vienna)

British-Croatian artist Marianna Simnett presents a large solo exhibition at the Secession, combining film, sound, sculpture, and installation. Simnett’s practice is defined by a radical engagement with the body, vulnerability, power structures, and narrative identities. Her works blur the lines between fact and fiction, medical intervention, and ritual staging. Several pieces draw on personal and collective experiences, including references to her family history and cultural storytelling traditions. This exhibition highlights key questions in contemporary art and invites visitors to engage deeply with the psychologically charged spaces of her artworks.

Vienna Secession – Mire Lee (June 12 – August 30, 2026, Vienna)

The young Korean artist Mire Lee presents her kinetic sculptures and installations at the Secession, emphasizing movement, materiality, and physical presence. Lee’s works often incorporate motorized, mechanical elements and organic forms, rethinking the relationship between machine and body and physically engaging the audience. This exhibition explores the intersection of technology, embodiment, and perception through Lee’s artworks.

Belvedere 21, Vienna – Sandra Mujinga: Skin to Skin (January 29 – May 31, 2026, Vienna)

Sandra Mujinga, one of the most exciting voices in contemporary art, transforms the exhibition space of Belvedere 21 into a vibrant experiential environment. In Skin to Skin, she combines light, sound, reflections, and figurative elements into immersive installations addressing identity, visibility, and social interaction. Mujinga’s artworks are both physically and conceptually intense, inviting visitors to reflect on their own perception processes and social attributions.

 

Belvedere, Vienna – Anni Albers: Constructing Textiles (April 30 – August 16, 2026, Vienna)

The comprehensive exhibition on Anni Albers at the Lower Belvedere presents the artist in Austria in depth for the first time. Albers, a key figure of the Bauhaus movement and later at Black Mountain College, combined craft, abstract form language, and theoretical thinking into innovative textile artworks. The exhibition traces her work from early Bauhaus experiments to large-scale woven structures, offering a multifaceted view of the significance of textile as a medium in modern art history.

 

Albertina Modern, Vienna – Marina Abramović Retrospective (October 10, 2025 – March 1, 2026, Vienna)

ALBERTINA MODERN presents the first large-scale retrospective of performance icon Marina Abramović in Austria. Over more than five decades, Abramović has defined the body as a medium and as a boundary between artwork, performer, and audience. The exhibition features historical performances, documented works, and reenactments that emphasize the performative nature of her practice. It also situates her work within the tradition of Viennese performance, connecting it to the historical lineage of the Vienna Actionists.

Albertina Modern, Vienna – KAWS: Art & Comics (April 3 – September 27, 2026, Vienna)

Parallel to the Abramović retrospective, Albertina Modern presents KAWS – Art & Comics, in which the American artist combines classical art traditions with pop culture, comic aesthetics, and everyday imagery. KAWS’ works – from sculptures and paintings to public artworks – encourage reflection on consumer society, identity, and cultural iconography. The exhibition demonstrates how contemporary artworks cross traditional genre boundaries and open up new narrative layers.

Leopold Museum, Vienna – Gustave Courbet & Vienna 1900 (February 19 – June 21, 2026, Vienna)

In its anniversary year, the Leopold Museum presents a comprehensive retrospective of French realist Gustave Courbet. The exhibition brings together around 130 paintings and drawings highlighting Courbet’s radical positions between realism, nature, and society. In parallel, long-standing audience favorites like Vienna 1900. On the Way to Modernity continue to serve as key reference points for art historical narratives, situating artists like Klimt and Schiele in the broader context of the turn of the century.

2026 promises to be an exciting year for art in Austria – from Vienna to Bregenz, major exhibitions and retrospectives in museums and institutions await visitors. And to ensure that these artworks can be safely transported between galleries, artists, lenders, and museums, Moviiu offers a secure and cost-effective solution for art transport. It reliably protects the artworks and simplifies logistical organization. This way, the focus stays exactly where it belongs: on the art itself.

 

Photocredits:

Sandra Mujinga, Touch Face 1–3, 2018, Installationsansicht, Poetry for Revolutions, Instituto Svizzero, Rom, 2023–24, Foto: Daniele Molajoli

Anni Albers, Knot, 1947. Foto: Tim Nighswander / Imaging4Art © 2025 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation/ProLitteris, Zurich

Ulay / Marina Abramović | Breathing In, Breathing Out, April 1977 | Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives © Ulay/Marina Abramović. Courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives / Bildrecht, Wien 2025