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ONLINECOLLECTION

Genius Loci, 2017

Leopold Museum,
Wien/Foto: Adrian Kowanz © ESTATE BRIGITTE KOWANZ/Bildrecht,
Vienna 2026
Neon, mirror
80×80×19 cm

Artists

  • Brigitte Kowanz

    (Vienna 1957–2022 Vienna)

Currently on display at EG
In the work of the Austrian artist Brigitte Kowanz (1957–2022), light is the central element, which she used both as a means of creating space and as a carrier of information. Over decades of continuous work, the artist developed a veritable vocabulary of light, with which she staged the interweaving of material and immaterial space. In this work, the Latin term Genius Loci (meaning “spirit of the place”) forms the basis for the interplay between language, space and light. The title of the work in neon lettering is framed in a mirrored glass box. The element of the mirror provides a further level of reflection, and the interplay creates a vortex of boundlessly flowing light that draws the viewer in, dissolving the boundary between work and viewer.
Kowanz’s oeuvre also includes over 50 different installations for public spaces. For the MQ Libelle on the roof of the Leopold Museum, she created an artistic intervention in the form of the three iconic light rings.

Object data

Artist/author
  • Brigitte Kowanz
Title
Genius Loci
Date
2017
Art movement
Art after 1945
Category
Object
Material​/technique
Neon, mirror
Dimensions
80×80×19 cm
Credit line
Leopold Museum, Vienna, Inv. 6299
Inventory access
Asseccion 2018
Keywords

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Provenance

Provenance research
Leopold Museum i

Brigitte Kowanz, Wien (bis 2018); (1)
Leopold Museum-Privatstiftung, Wien (seit 2018).

  1. Archiv des Leopold Museums, Schenkungsvertrag vom 12.12.2018

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2023/2024 Partial funding for digitization by the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport „Kulturerbe digital“ as part of NextGenerationEU.