JULIUS VON BISMARCK

Julius von Bismarck

“In my opinion, the way we look at nature directly influences nature. The aim of my work is to examine and influence the perspective we as humans take on the (surrounding) world, for instance the forces of nature.”
Julius von Bismarck

In powerful images, with technological inventions and exceptional experiments, Julius von Bismarck examines human perception and the relationship between humans and nature. Whether storms, lightning, masses of water or fires – elementary forces of nature and extensive research expeditions are often the starting point for his work groups, which combine an artistic perspective with scientific and technological approaches.

In spectacular actions Julius von Bismarck has flogged the sea, captured lightning flashes and vacuum sealed plants in their original habitat. The resulting photographs, video works, kinetic sculptures and installations are visually powerful and are not shy of grandiose gestures.

In autumn 2025 the KunstHausWien is staging the German artist’s first large solo exhibition in Austria. Along with a selection of works spanning several different media from the last 15 years, Julius von Bismarck will create for the show a new work in which non-human entities come to life as actors. Von Bismarck’s artistic research reveals the limits of the human perspective and challenges us to question the consequences our actions have on the environment.

Biography
Julius von Bismarck was born in 1983 in Breisach am Rhein (Germany) and grew up in Riad (Saudi Arabia). He studied at the University of the Arts, Berlin, the Hunter College New York (USA) and the Institute for Spatial Experiments founded by Ólafur Elíasson at the University of the Arts, Berlin. He lives and works in Berlin and Switzerland.

The artist has already created numerous solo exhibitions, for example at the Berlinische Galerie (2023), the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn (2020) and the Palais de Tokyo in Paris (2019). He has also taken part in diverse international group exhibitions and biennales, including Abenteuer Abstraktion in the Sprengel Museum Hannover (2023), the Mercosul Biennale in Porto Alegre (2022), STUDIO BERLIN in the Berghain Berlin (2020), Power to the People in the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt (2018), the first Antarctica Biennale (2017) and the Architecture Biennale Venice (2012). In 2008 he was awarded the Prix Ars Electronica, in 2012 he was the first artist-in-residence at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research.

Curator
Sophie Haslinger

Project Room Garage

Fuzzy Earth. the belly knows before the brain
Tekla Gedeon & Sebastian Gschanes

16.10.2025–25.01.2026
Curated by Stephan Kuss & Veronika Hackl