Reinhold Zisser
Artist in Residence
Reinhold Zisser’s artistic practice is grounded in a process-oriented methodology that understands art not primarily as an object, but as an event shaped by institutional, social, and material conditions. Working within the expanded field of sculpture, his projects unfold through temporal, spatial, and collective processes rather than fixed forms. Zisser treats the conditions of artistic production—curatorial structures, institutional protocols, and socio-environmental contexts—not as external frameworks, but as constitutive material of the work itself.
His practice is informed by traditions of process art and institutional critique, which he extends toward a performative engagement with curatorial and organizational systems. A key example of this approach was the appropriation of the physical body of an abandoned emergency church (Notkirche), which became the basis for his most extensive long-term project, Notgalerie. Conceived as a meta-installation, Notgalerie simultaneously produced both the artwork and the institutional framework within which it operated.
Between 2021 and 2023, Notgalerie evolved into a decentralized and networked sculptural configuration under the working title Notgalerie #Europe. The project unfolded across multiple sites in Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Portugal, and Israel, emphasizing connectivity, contingency, and contextual specificity over centralized authorship.
In recent projects, Zisser continues to pursue site-specific and context-responsive strategies, including work in Seestadt and, since 2024, the development of a sculptural pathway in Lower Austria (Skulpturen Plöcking), near Maria Gugging and the Vienna Woods.
"Watersculptures", 2025
A workshop series created by Sonya Darrow & Reinhold Zisser
Three workshops and a final exhibition at the LLLLLL artist run space with works by:
István Antal / Regina Hügli / Anne Marie Lutz / Stefan Lux / Stefan Malicky / Johannes Milchram / Georg Novotny / Yehvenia Pavlova / Tanya Shtykalo / Silvia Ungersböck
TURNING THE TIDE – Watersculptures (TTT) was an artistic research project engaging with social and ecological justice, water quality, micro-ecologies, adaptation strategies, and cultural heritage.
The central medium water functioned as a resource, symbol, and carrier of history. During February and March 2026, a workshop series combined scientific perspectives, personal experiences, and artistic perception. The series was open to people from diverse professional and social contexts, artists, researchers, and other interested participants.
Sonya Darrow and Reinhold Zisser, who jointly realised the project, invited all participants to actively take part and to create their own work as a reflection of the workshop series. The basis for this was the collection and mixing of water from the locations of the three workshops (Nussdorfer Wehr – Danube, the Seestadt Lake, and the Lobau). Of the sixteen participants, ten transformed their experiences of the series into works that were presented in the final exhibition at LLLLLL artist-run space in Seestadt Aspern.
Dates / Places of the workshops:
Workshop 1: Tuesday, 17 February 2026, 3:00 pm Am Brigittenauer Sporn 3, 1200 Vienna (BOKU Hydraulic Engineering Laboratory)
Workshop 2: Friday, 27 February 2026, 3:00 pm Seestadt, meeting at Bruno Marone followed by a walk around the Lake and a visit of the LLLLLL artist run space
Workshop 3: Friday, 6 March 2026, 3:00 pm Biberhaufenweg 117 (Bus stop Großer Biberhaufen) Destination: Lobau Groundwater Plant, Saltenstraße
Exhibition / Final Presentation: Tuesday, 17 March 2026, 6:00 pm LLLLLL, artist-run space – Sonnenallee 26/3
