COMING
UP
30.04.2026 / Space – Nature – Human, St. Virgil, Salzburg, AT
03.05.2026 / Nach dem Zucker, Kunstverein Eisenstadt, Siegendorf, AT
28.05.2026 / Dry Pastures, OÖ Kunstverein Linz, AT
08.06.2026 / Natur Kunst Prozesse, HIPP Halle, Gmunden, AT
31.07.2026 / Taiwan Ceramics Biennale 2026, Yingge, New Taipei, TW
15.08.2026 / The Bound, Michaelnbach, AT
04.09.2026 / Sala dei Cento Pacifici, Faenza, IT
08.09.2026 / Var fan ligger Lerberget, Höganäs, SE
AGREEMENT. ENERGYCORN
Since 1989, the Salzburg State Ceramics Prize has honored outstanding ceramic art; it has been open to entries from across Austria since 1993. The 2026 edition is the 12th. Eligible artists are those born in Austria or who have resided in the country for at least five years.
At the exhibition, Luse presents two installations: “Agreement. Energycorn” and “Homescreen.” “Agreement. Energycorn” is made of earthenware traditionally used for industrial tableware. Whole corn plants were cast in about 20 plaster molds, and an ash glaze was formulated from agricultural waste—leaves, roots, and stalks. As maize absorbs elements, residues from fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides alter its chemistry, surfacing in the glaze as brown, green, and red impurities. The work addresses globalization and ecology.
“Homescreen” examines the interplay between nature, technology, and global interdependence, inspired by the invisible networks that sustain both ecosystems and human systems. Centered on the soybean—the world’s fourth most cultivated plant—it highlights the plant’s symbiosis with rhizobial bacteria and the metaphorical convergence of biological and digital roots in contemporary life.
Photo credits: @Rudolf Strobl
AGREEMENT
Touch Nature brings together international artists responding to the political, economic, ecological, and humanitarian pressures of the Anthropocene.
At the exhibition, Luse shows her installation “Agreement,” in which casts of sugar‑beet roots are meticulously formed from sanitary‑ceramic body and glazed with ash derived from sugar‑beet leaves, then arranged in a deliberately scattered pile. The work holds a tension between nourishment and commodity, earth and industry—organic forms hardened into vitrified surfaces. The heap reads as both harvest and waste, a residue of extraction and processing, while the leaf‑ash glaze returns a trace of the field to the object.
Photo Credits @Stefanie Freynschlag
SUBSTRATES OF OLD GARDENS
For the 19th time, two artists selected by an expert jury were invited to the residency. Artists Linda Luse and Philipp Hoelzgen spent five weeks in summer 2024 working in the art studio at St. Virgil as part of the Artists-in-Residence program.
In her new ceramic series “Dürre Weiden” (“Dry Pastures”), Linda Luse explores the fragile and increasingly threatened relationship between human activity and ecological health, with a particular focus on soil as a fundamental basis of life. Her work is grounded in extensive research and a conceptual examination of the ecological consequences of interventions such as soil sealing, pollution, and unsustainable land use.
Soil—the most biodiverse habitat on Earth—serves as a central metaphor in her practice: within its complex web of microorganisms and subterranean networks lie the foundations of plant growth, nutrient cycles, and functioning ecosystems. Yet this realm is increasingly degraded, depleted, and overlooked.
Photo credits: @Philipp Hoelzgen and @Linda Luse