HR Giger. Dreams and Visions

In this comprehensive retrospective devoted to HR Giger, who was born in 1940 in Switzerland, KUNST HAUS WIEN takes a new look at the works of a controversial artist who, more than almost anyone else, has had a farreaching influence on pop culture and cyberculture.

In this comprehensive retrospective devoted to HR Giger, who was born in 1940 in Switzerland, KUNST HAUS WIEN takes a new look at the works of a controversial artist who, more than almost anyone else, has had a farreaching influence on pop culture and cyberculture. The painter and sculptor HR Giger, who received an Oscar in 1980 for his creation of the otherworldly creatures in the film classic "Alien", directed by Ridley Scott, has produced a richly varied artistic oeuvre that is unmatched for ist visionary power and disturbing intensity.

HR Giger is an artist of visions, who has depicted the collective fears of a humanity faced with the threat of nuclear destruction and the mechanisation of life in archetypal images created in his distinctive biomechanical style. He is a magician of dreams, who, in cycles such as the "Necronomicon" or the "Tarot", probes the most deeply hidden layers of the subconscious and penetrates to the abysses of all that is nightmarish and demonic. Running through HR Giger's entire oeuvre, like two closely entwined threads, are the themes of sexuality and death; in the exhibition, a special section is devoted to "Eros und Thanatos".

The retrospective brings together key works from all of HR Giger's creative periods and works that have never been exhibited before, thereby offering insights into the development of his unmistakable aesthetic. A special focus is placed on three female figures that appear in HR Giger's oeuvre – Li Tobler, one of his muses, the singer Debbie Harry, and the hybrid female Sil from the film "Species". The exhibition places significant motifs from HR Giger's works in the context of the artists and images that have particularly inspired him.

Age restriction

The artist HR Giger is famous for his paintings that focus on the themes of horror, fear, nightmares, sexuality and the demonic. Accordingly, some of the works being shown in this exhibition could have a disturbing or shocking effect on the beholders. For this reason, the exhibition is not recommended for children and young people under the age of 14.