CV & Press
Mathias Kessler (b. 1968, Austria) is a New York–based artist whose work critically reimagines nature through photography, installation, and digital media. Referencing art history, philosophy, and ecological politics, he creates provocative juxtapositions—icebergs staged like movie sets, coral-covered skulls, or romantic landscapes in beer fridges. His practice destabilizes binaries such as nature/culture or aesthetics/ideology with wit and gravity. Kessler holds an MFA from SVA and has exhibited internationally at institutions including Kunsthal Rotterdam, Kunsthaus Graz, and Columbus Museum of Art. His work appears in major publications including The New York Times, Die Zeit, Camera Austria, and Kunstforum International.
CV
Solo exhibitions
2026
- Between States of Matter, Johanniterkirche Feldkirch, Austria
- Winterpioniere (with Karl Max Kessler Archive), Pi – π Projects, Frankfurt
2025
- A Year without Summer, Pi – π Projects, Frankfurt
2024
- Staging Nature, Bildraum Bregenz
- Pump It Up, Kunsthaus Graz
- Davos Orgone Projekt, Pi – π Projects, Frankfurt
- Making Something out of Nothing, performance, OG Gallery, Istanbul
2023
- Wasted Sunsets, Galerie Heike Strelow, Frankfurt
2022
- Some People Feel the Rain. Others Just Get Wet, Austrian Cultural Forum London
- Planetary Forest – Bring the Forest into the Garden, Botanischer Garten Giessen
2020
- I Am a Rainbow Too, Kultur Sommer Bregenz
2019
- Forever and Sunsmell, Galerie Heike Strelow, Frankfurt
- Unterbrechung, Künstlerhaus Bregenz
2018
- Staging Nature, Kirchner Museum Davos
2017
- Artifacts & Other Errors of Perception, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art
- Simulacrum – Virtual Worlds, Palmengarten Frankfurt
- Between Image and Matter (The Camera as a Producer), Galerie Heike Strelow, Frankfurt
2015
- California Dreamin, Site:Lab (ArtPrize), Grand Rapids
- Here and Now, Kunsthal Rotterdam
- California Dreaming, Rise Projects, London
2013
- In Cold Blood (with Andrea Galvani), Y Gallery, New York
- Social Landscape, Volta, New York
- Construction of Landscapes, FIFI Projects, Monterrey
2007–2010
- From Copernicus to Cyberspace, Galerie Heike Strelow, Frankfurt
- After Nature, GL Holtegaard, Copenhagen
- I’ll Survive, Rosphoto, St. Petersburg · ME Contemporary, Copenhagen
- The Taste of Discovery, Kunstraum Dornbirn · Galerie Heike Strelow · habres+partner, Vienna
- Natural Fiction, Brotfabrik Berlin
2006
- Secluded Nights, Winkleman / Plus Ultra Gallery, New York · habres+partner, Vienna
2000
- 0 – Gravity, Rare Gallery, New York
Group exhibitions (selection)
2026
- (Re)connecting.earth biennial, Geneva · Villa du Parc, Annemasse
- Spuren der Wirklichkeit – 200 Jahre Fotografie, Lentos, Linz
2025
- Busan Biennale – Sea Art Festival, Busan
- A Weaving Workshop: From Plastic Trash to Carpet (with Ahmet Civelek), Busan Biennale
- Künstlerhaus Wien
- Resonanzräume auf und mit Papier, Galerie Heike Strelow, Frankfurt
2024
- Call to Climate Dignity, Künstlerhaus Wien
- Energy – At the Threshold of the Visible World, AIL, Vienna
- Sensus Terrae, Emmanuel Walderdorff Galerie, Neukirchen am Traunsee
- Changing Tides, Artport Kingston, New York
2022
- Re-thinking Nature, FOTO WIEN, Kunst Haus Wien
- Korrespondenzen I: Art – Environmental Justice – Sustainability, Kunsthaus Graz
- Beauty (Sagmeister & Walsh), Vorarlberg Museum, Bregenz
2021
- Darwin’s Paradox: A Decade of Bio Art, SVA Flatiron Gallery, New York
- ΚΑΙΡΟΣ :: Recall of Earth, Angewandte Lab, Vienna
2017
- Fragile Schöpfung, Dom Museum Wien
- Artists Respond, Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence
- L.A. On Fire, Wilding Cran Gallery, Los Angeles
- Inspiration Meisterwerk, Museum Villa Rot
- Joshua Treenial, Joshua Tree
2016
- Big Botany, Spencer Museum of Art
- Eiskalt, Eres Stiftung, Munich
- Constructing Paradise, Austrian Cultural Forum New York
- Visions of Nature, Kunst Haus Wien
- The Sun Placed in the Abyss, Columbus Museum of Art
- Spring Exhibition, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen
2009–2012
- Landscape in Motion, Kunsthaus Graz
- Jenseits der Ansichtskarte – Die Alpen in der Fotografie, Vorarlberg Museum
- Seeing Now, 21c Museum, Louisville
- [UN]NATURAL LIMITS · Our House, Austrian Cultural Forum New York
- Lost Paradise · The Nature of Disappearance, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York
- Höhenrausch II, OK Linz · Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz
2006
- The Invention of Landscape, Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
- Looking for Alfred (with Johan Grimonprez): IFF Rotterdam · Moderna Museet · Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels · De La Warr Pavilion
- Augenblicke Foto Kunst, Sammlung Essl, Vienna
Collections
- Dom Museum Wien, Sammlung Otto Mauer
- MOMus – Thessaloniki Museum of Photography
- Museum der Moderne Salzburg
- Vorarlberg Museum, Bregenz
- 21c Museum Hotels, Louisville
- Illwerke Collection, Austria
- Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, New York
Curatorial
- Founder and artistic director, Pi – π Projects, Frankfurt (2023–present)
- Founder, Karl Max Kessler Archive, Kleinwalsertal — fotokessler.org
- Dialoge 2026 (with Björn Drenkwitz), four-part series, Pi – π Projects, Frankfurt
- Curatorial advisor, Constructing Paradise (2016/17) and [UN]NATURAL LIMITS (2013), Austrian Cultural Forum New York
Teaching, residencies, awards
- School of Visual Arts, New York — History of Video; Photo and Video Studio, 2014–2019
- Pratt Institute, Center for Design Research, 2018–2019
- Residencies: Fotoapartment London (BMUKK) 2017 · Rise Projects London 2015 · Kunst Vorarlberg, Rome/Paliano 2014 · Hatch House, Cape Cod Modern House Trust 2013/14 · Everglades National Park 2013 · Land Vorarlberg, Berlin 2012
- Staatsstipendium für Fotografie, Vienna 2009 · MFA scholarship, School of Visual Arts 2009
- Film: Independent Shorts Awards LA 2022 (winner) · Phoenix Shorts 2022 (winner) · NewFilmmakers NY 2023 (finalist)
Publications
- The Year Without a Summer, Distanz Verlag, Berlin 2025 — Light Phenomena, with a text by Christos Zerefos
- Planetary Forest, with Finkelstein & Hartl, 2023–24
- Mathias Kessler’s Cultural Cul-de-Sac, publication, 2020 (essay Bernard Vienat)
- Nowhere to Be Found, ed. Dieter Buchhart, Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 2015 — monograph accompanying the Kunsthal Rotterdam survey
- Staging Nature, artist book
- The Taste of Discovery, Verlag für moderne Kunst, Nürnberg 2010
Press
Installation views — 77 images, captioned (35 MB)
Individual works 1 of 2 — captioned (51 MB)
Individual works 2 of 2 — captioned (50 MB)
Artist portraits — Bildraum Bregenz 2024, photo Petra Rainer (2 MB)
Portfolio and project texts (PDF, 15 MB)
Selected press clippings — Die Zeit, Kunstforum, FAZ, Standard … (PDF/JPG, 22 MB)
Selected press
- Patricia Cohen, “A Collector Bets His Eye and His Gut”, The New York Times, 6 Dec 2013
- Ernst Schmiederer, “Bei Neumond in der Einsamkeit”, Die Zeit, 4 Apr 2009
- Gudrun Ratzinger, “ÜberLeben und Kunst”, Kunstforum International, vol. 274
- Hartmut Böhme, “Tote Natur”, Kunstforum International, vol. 258
- Sabine Flach, “The Anthropocene and Art by the Example of Mathias Kessler’s Work”, Eikon no. 101, 2018
- “Big Botany Explores Humanity’s Sometimes Dysfunctional Relationship with the Plant World”, Hyperallergic, 27 Mar 2018
- Michael Slenske, “Paradise Lost”, Cultured Magazine, Feb 2017
- Katya Kazakina, “Warhol’s ‘Piss’ Painting, Human Skull, Clutter: Hot Art”, Bloomberg, 12 Jul 2012
- Katharina Rustler, “Neue Ausstellung ‘Fragile Schöpfung’ im Dom Museum”, Der Standard, 13 Oct 2020
- Christoph Schütte, “Eisberg, Wüste, Wolkenmeer”, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 20 Jun 2014
- Dieter Buchhart, “Against the Unspoiled”, Eikon no. 69, 2010
- “Forum”, Camera Austria no. 65, 2000
Contact
Curatorial and institutional inquiries
Studio — info@mathiaskessler.com
Exhibitions, commissions, loans, lectures, press.
Sales and general inquiries
Galerie Heike Strelow, Frankfurt — galerieheikestrelow.de