New York based Austrian artist Kurt Hentschläger creates media installations and performances for both physical and virtual venues.
Hentschläger’s works have characteristically been visceral and immersive, as in ZEE, FEED & more recently in SOL, SUB and EKO, and are known for their perceptual effects. They challenge an audience psychologically but also offer a meditative respite from the day-to-day stress of digitally enhanced life. His representational body of work, including MEASURE and ORT, suggests a semi-synthetic form of nature that serves as a metaphor for our life in the Anthropocene.
Hentschläger’s work practice embraces experiment and interdisciplinary approach, most prominently displayed in his ephemeral audiovisual environments and live shows in between fine arts, music and theater.
Between 1992 and 2003 he collaborated in the groundbreaking media art duo “Granular=Synthesis”, known for emotionally intense works, developing amongst others what is now often referred to as immersive art.
Selected presentations include the Venice Biennial, the Venice Theater Biennial, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, PS1 New York, MAC – Musée d’Art Contemporain Montreal, MAK – Museum of Applied Arts Vienna, ZKM – Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, National Art Museum of China Beijing, National Museum for Contemporary Art Seoul, ICC Tokyo, Arte Alameda Mexico City, MONA – Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Sharjah Art, UAE, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, The Momentary, Bentonville.
As a part of Hyphen Hub Salon Series: Bodies with Antibodies, Hentschlager discussed No Exit Oasis, an audiovisual VR environment that he created in Mozilla Hubs. Kurt’s immersive media-installations and performances have been presented all over the world for three decades. His work is interdisciplinary in nature. He is considered a pioneer of performative installation. Recurring topics in his work include the human body; human expression; how the brain processes the outside world; and how perception is colored by culture, imagination, mood and identity. He researches psychology, neurology and contemporary art and culture.