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My Vienna: Austrian artist Julia Bugram

Above/featured: The artist in their workspace in Vienna. Photo, 11 Jul 2025 (X70).

The sculpture provided the introduction in 2022.

Two clasped hands, each as tall as a person. Each hand made with 1-million 1-Eurocent coins.

Seen in 2022, next to St. Stephan’s Cathedral. Seen next in 2023, the sculpture moved near the big fountain at Schwarzenbergplatz. A wonderful crowdfunded project, created by Austrian artist Julia Bugram.

In spring 2025, I receive a kind invitation to visit her studio in Vienna; come July and I’m in the city’s 5th district. I make my way up to the 2nd floor of a renovated pre-war building, and arrive at a cozy working art-space shared between Julia and a second artist. I’m not surprised to find tall ceilings, big windows, a small kitchen, and just enough space and storage for two artists to share and split the rent.

In her practice, Julia explores themes surrounding community and society; and how art can create, enhance, and strengthen connections among people. Her artistic influences include: Hilma af Klimt, Mela Diamant, Renate Bertlmann, Margot Pilz, Jakob Lena Knebl, Martha Jungwirth. We spoke at some length about the economic and cultural challenges facing contemporary Austrian artists in the creation and distribution of their work, as well as the difficulty of commuting between Vienna and her home in Burgenland. I’m looking forward to seeing what she’ll create in the near future.

Links to her website and Instagram.

Raising Hands, Stephansplatz, Stephansdom, 1. Bezirk, Innere Stadt, Wien, Vienna, Austria, Österreich, fotoeins.com

“Raising Hands”, by Julia Bugram, at Stephansplatz next to Stephansdom (St. Stephen’s Cathedral). Photo, 23 May 2022 (X70).

Closeup of “Raising Hands”, at Stephansplatz. Photo, 23 May 2022 (X70).

Raising Hands, Schwarzenbergplatz, 3. Bezirk, Landstrasse, Wien, Vienna, Austria, Österreich, fotoeins.com

A year later, “Raising Hands” was moved to Schwarzenbergplatz in front of the Hochstrahlbrunnen fountain. Photo, 13 May 2023 (X70).

“Raising Hands”, facing northwest at Schwarzenbergplatz. As of 2024, the sculpture was no longer at Schwarzenbergplatz; the artwork is presently in storage as mentioned by the artist. Photo, 13 May 2023 (X70).

Julia Bugram, 5. Bezirk, Margareten, Wien, Vienna, Austria, Österreich, fotoeins.com

Working art space shared by Julia Bugram and Elisabeth Hansa; I’ve obscured their contact numbers. As the sign next to the building entrance states, appointments are only by agreed arrangement. Photo, 11 Jul 2025 (P15).

“Widerstand & Neugierde: Kunst, die Veränderung fordert.” (Resistance & Curiosity: art that demands change): her recent monograph with images of recent art pieces, including extensive discussion and the context of her work. Photo, 11 Jul 2025 (P15).

Her acknowledgements: those who directly supported the publishing of her book are mostly from Vienna and other parts of Austria. Photo, 11 Jul 2025 (P15).

Many of the pieces on the wall include sketches of plants, emphasizing her desire to commune with and derive inspiration from nature. Photo, 11 Jul 2025 (X70).

“Fut” (vulgar word whose English translation rhymes with ‘punt’), as part of her triptych “Fut — Mut — Wut”. Photo, 11 Jul 2025 (P15).

“Mut” (courage), as part of her triptych “Fut — Mut — Wut”. Photo, 11 Jul 2025 (P15).

“Wut” (fury). Her triptych creation, “Fut — Mut — Wut” (2021), presented here in alphabetical order with carefully selected wallpaper-like background motifs. Three words of equal length in rhyme, each word describing an aspect of womanhood; women in sole possession and complete command of expression, connotation, meaning, and application. Photo, 11 Jul 2025 (P15).

Defiance and empowerment, body autonomy, questions of the external gaze, and control of their own narratives. Photo, 25 Jul 2025 (P15).

My thanks to Julia for her invitation and her time. I made all images above in 2022, 2023, and 2025 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime (X70) and an iPhone15 (P15). I received neither pre-visit support nor post-visit compensation for this piece. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-y3i. Last edit: 27 Mar 2026.

Astronomer Johannes Kepler: birth town Weil der Stadt

Above/featured: Johannes Kepler memorial at Marktplatz in Weil der Stadt. Photo, 21 Jul 2024 (P15).

I first heard the name “Kepler” way back in high school. I had no idea “Kepler” would embody a winding trail of education, knowledge, a “first life” (career), and a deep lifelong appreciation of science. Thankfully, what’s transformed has been a “second life” opened to another world with more questions, some of which have led to unexpected places. Perhaps, the cost is a solitary quest for answers, but ultimately, my motivation has always been clear: it’s because I need to know.

In the same way Kepler, like many others before and after, looked up into the night sky and asked a simple question: “why do stars and planets appear and move as they do in the night sky?”

To the here and now, my questions begin and land on our own planet.

For example, where was Kepler born? Where is this place? Are there any traces in those spaces?

First, who was Kepler?

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Vienna Albertina: Brigitte Kowanz, light is what she saw

Above/featured: “Light is what we see”, 1994/2019. (A part of Speed of Light/4m with the digits 6-3 appears at the right edge.)

Austrian artist Brigitte Kowanz (1957–2022) held an enduring fascination for light. Light wasn’t simply the medium through which information propagated. Light itself was also a tool and mould for illumination, reflection, and even introspection. There’s something in her light-based artworks which allude not only to her philosophy and worldview, but also to her clear interest for science. Her works also anticipate and explore timely themes, including what it means to live in an information-rich society that fully embraces digital habitats and virtual spaces. There’s a spirit of fun and “lightness” mixed with a serious appreciation for the history of technology with her frequent use of Morse code. To me, Kowanz’s body of work is a wonderful manifestation of the 1964 statement by Canadian philosopher and media theorist Marshall McLuhan: “The medium is the message.”

I arranged my 2025 stay in Vienna to coincide with the final week of the Francesca Woodman exhibition and the beginning of an exhibition on Brigitte Kowanz, both held at the Albertina gallery-museum. Since Kowanz’s passing in 2022, the first major solo exhibition was a retrospective of her work titled “Light is what we see”. The Albertina has fast become a favourite, having seen an exhibition of photographer Gregory Crewdson’s work in the summer of 2024.

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Iris Andraschek in Vienna: telling the city who they are

For me, landmarks – a series of art works, for example – provide a network of “pins” for exploring and discovering parts of a city. That’s been my approach to Vienna’s 23 districts over the last 4 consecutive summers. Adding to the growing mind-map of memories, I’m restored by the excitement of the chase-and-find, among increasingly familiar surroundings and the frequency of new personal encounters.

Austrian artist Iris Andraschek works with photography, drawings. spatial installations, and video to explore and communicate ideas regarding cultural and societal relationships. Throughout Vienna, a number of Andraschek’s works are “visual interventions”, calling direct attention to the under-representation of women in the city’s public spaces.

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Vienna: “Yellow Fog” by Olafur Eliasson

Above/featured: “Aus eigener Kraft”. Photo, 16 Jul 2025 (X70).

Is that red-hot steam?

It’s a warm and breezy summer evening, the colour of the light is illusory, and the blanket of mist is cool on contact.

At the southwest corner of the Am Hof square in central Vienna is the corporate headquarters of Verbund. Installed outside the building is Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson‘s 2008 sculptural work “Yellow Fog“. The open public square becomes the arena to changing light, colour, and transparency; asking questions of perception and perspective. The display occurs every night for an hour after dusk, but not in winter.

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