(Vienna, xx-02-2022) Brigitte Kowanz is regarded as an "ambassador of light", because light was not only the material but also often the subject of her works. The artist's work "Exchange", now permanently installed in the foyer of the Art Nouveau lecture hall at MedUni Vienna, is intended to create spaces of exchange - in the spirit of science, research and innovation.
"Brigitte Kowanz has left numerous impressions, and this work of art is another way in which we will remember her for a long time. This installation inspires us to create knowledge and pass it on for the benefit of our patients," says Markus Müller, Rector of MedUni Vienna.
The connection between the Kowanz family and MedUni Vienna came about through Rainer Oberbauer, head of the Division of Nephrology and Dialysis.
"Light is expansive and fleeting, it never stays in one place- light is a metaphor for life," said Brigitte Kowanz, describing her approach to light, which was the subject of her work.
Her son Adrian Kowanz chose the installation "Exchange" specifically for the location: "Exchange in the sense of a transfer of knowledge in research and teaching at MedUni Vienna."
Through her different approaches to the visual arts, Brigitte Kowanz shaped a development that significantly advanced artistic research between art and science. She pioneered a cross-media approach to art, relating and redefining media art and sculpture by incorporating technical and scientific methods."
About Brigitte Kowanz (1957 to 2022)
Light and space are central elements in the work of Brigitte Kowanz, who studied at the College (now University) of Applied Arts Vienna from 1975 to 1980. From the very beginning, Kowanz devoted herself to the artistic investigation of the medium of light. Her works have been shown at the Venice Biennale, the Sao Paulo Biennale, the Sydney Biennale, the Cairo Biennale, the Fondation Beyeler, the Hayward Gallery London, the Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, the MACRO Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Roma and the Shanghai Art Museum. Extensive solo exhibitions of the artist's work have taken place at the Museum Haus Konstruktiv in Zurich, the Galerie im Taxispalais in Innsbruck, the Secession Vienna and the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig in Vienna. Kowanz has also developed well over 50 installations for public spaces, such as the iconic light fixtures on the roof of the Leopold Museum in Vienna. From 1997 to 2021 she taught at the University of Applied Arts Vienna as a professor of transmedia art, and in 2009 she was honoured with the Grand Austrian State Prize. Kowanz died on 28 January 2022.