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The

Artist

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Photographer

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Visual Artist

Julia Gaisbacher

Nominated in
2026
By
FOTO ARSENAL WIEN
Lives and Works in
Vienna
Julia Gaisbacher (*1983) lives and works in Vienna (AT). She studied art history at the University of Graz (AT) and sculpture at the Dresden University of Fine Arts (DE), as well as the Sint-Lukas School of Arts in Brussels (BE). At the center of her working method are extensive research and long-term observations that focus on the urban landscape as a human living environment. The starting point is always photography. Her final works manifest in the forms of prints, installations, films and photobooks, with the latter having become an important part of her artistic practice. Her latest book, “Hanne Darboven. Am Burgberg”, was published by Hatje Cantz in 2025.
Projects
2023

Hanne Darboven. Am Burgberg

"Hanne Darboven. Am Burgberg" is a long-term exploration by Julia Gaisbacher of Hanne Darboven's home and workplace at the address "Am Burgberg" and, at the same time, continues Gaisbacher's own work on "dream houses." The Viennese artist's photographs offer insights into Darboven's studios in the south of Hamburg (DE), which have remained unchanged since her death in 2009. The five houses on the unique estate served as her living and working space for 40 years. The central structure is the studio building that Darboven designed herself, embedded in a historic homestead. To this day, the ensemble also functions as a treasury for thousands of objects and artworks. Gaisbacher's precisely composed black-and-white photographs of the rooms, whose seemingly chaotic abundance contrasts sharply with the strict order of Darboven's works on paper, create a compelling artistic dialogue about time and space between the generations. Hanne Darboven (1941–2009) lived and worked in Hamburg and is one of the most prominent conceptual artists of the 20th century. In the 1960s, she was among the earliest proponents of this groundbreaking international movement; she was also an attentive observer of her time and the historical and contemporary currents in politics, culture and society.
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Julia Gaisbacher
was nominated by
FOTO ARSENAL WIEN
in
2026
Show all projects
Each year every member of the FUTURES European Photography Platform nominates a set of artists and projects to become part of the FUTURES network.

In collaboration with experts from the Austrian cultural sector, we have curated a selection that highlights the plurality of artistic approaches – from (auto-)biographical studies to cityscapes to glimpses of everyday and past lives.

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Naa Teki Martey Lebar (*1989) centers her practice on experiences of living across multiple cultures. Her ongoing series “Family Meetings” (2013–) documents recurring visits to her grandmother in Accra and reflects on questions of identity and belonging. Origin and home are navigated as shifting and negotiated positions.

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Thomas Albdorf (*1982) questions the mechanisms of image-making, perception and meaning. His series “Body Double” (2022-23) explores how the image of the city Los Angeles unfolds through the lens of visual culture – from Google Street View, Hollywood films to vintage photographs.

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Julia Gaisbacher (*1983) examines the relationship between architecture and society through extensive, long-term observations. For her project “Hanne Darboven. Am Burgberg” (2023), she spent several weeks in the untouched studio of the Conceptual artist, creating a sensitive exploration of Darboven’s life and legacy.

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Eric Asamoah (*1999) explores questions of identity, memory and diasporic experience through portraiture. His project “Here, Nowhere Else” (2023) documents intimate encounters with the boxing community of Jamestown, Accra, emphasizing photography as a relational practice.

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Helena Kalleitner (*1996) revisits sites destroyed in Salzburg during World War II and photographs them as they appear today. By juxtaposing past and present, the series “Portrait of a rebuilt City” (2025) explores memory as an ongoing, shifting process rather than a fixed state.

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The 2026 committee consisted of three external jurors from Austria, who supported the curatorial team of FOTO ARSENAL WIEN in the selection process:

Rainer Iglar, Curator & Editor, FOTOHOF, Salzburg

Christina Töpfer, Editor-in-chief, Camera Austria, Graz

Maria Venzl, Curator for Contemporary Art, OK, Linz

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Felix Hoffmann, Artistic Director, FOTO ARSENAL WIEN

Marit Lena Herrmann, Curator, FOTO ARSENAL WIEN

Mona Schubert, Curator, FOTO ARSENAL WIEN

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