Art exhibitions in South Tyrol

Painting on metal foils in Stabler's Staircase Gallery in Oberbozen, Alter Mühlweg 28. Open daily, except Sunday & Holiday. Info tel. +39 0471 345480. He is a brooder, a thinker, someone who critically questions blind faith in progress. When he rushes through the streets, restless but observant, he might already be envisioning his next project: a façade, a painting, a sundial to adorn a wall, or a family crest. Gottfried Stabler, however, became particularly well-known for the gold leaf technique that he developed himself. (Text: Kuratorium Kommende Lengmoos)

The Südtirol Classic Schenna is a must for connoisseurs who drive a vintage car. The Südtirol Classic Rally takes place from July 6th to July 13th, 2025. This sympathy rally will enchant those who appreciate breathtaking panoramic views, gracious support services, and fine cuisine. However, it’s not only the participants who enjoy this international event. Every morning and evening, the village centre turns into a backdrop for all kinds of brilliant chromes and beautiful classic vehicles. Of course, our holiday guests are right in the middle of it!

Gabriele Ciot, from Cortina d'Ampezzo, has been passionate about drawing since a young age, graduating from the Cortina Art Institute in 2006. He later took watercolor and drawing courses and exhibited his works in exhibitions between Cortina and Padua. He prefers trees and mountains as his subjects, fascinated by the shapes and contrasts that light creates on them.

Giancarlo Lamonaca: RAUSCHEN In a world where digital images have become the dominant form of memory, the exhibition Rauschen (Noise) asks what is being lost. These are images in a state of transition, in which reminiscences of a digital archive reveal a different form of imagery. Their disturbances generate resistance—against the claim to completeness and against the smoothness of perfected image worlds. A digital palimpsest in which memory is not preserved or discarded, but transformed. Mozzarellalight: TO FADE IN Water, a floating matter and a moving organism, moves to the center of perception. It is no longer just a simple element, but a living body that changes over time and produces unstable and silent microsystems within itself. Every moment creates a new image, like a photograph that eludes capture. An apparition that cannot be captured, but only briefly reveals itself—only to disappear again immediately. The installation will be visible mainly in the dark hours of the day, as in a photographic process in which the image slowly appears on the film.

Psychocolonial Spaces: Act 1 is a project conceived and implemented by Samia Henni, and commissioned by Ar/Ge Kunst, to be held in Bolzano between 24 May and 2 August 2025. The project investigates the relationships between borders, territories and inhabited spaces, and Frantz Fanon’s (1925-1961) analysis of the psychology of colonialism. The project for Ar/Ge Kunst, Psychocolonial Spaces, is the first of a series of events that may be activated in various cities and places. Act 1 sets out from the analysis of the invisible and invisibilized spaces of segregation and alienation across the territory of Bolzano and its surroundings: colonial traces, monuments and streets, places that even today have an impact on people’s lives. But what comes to mind when we think of ‘psychocolonial’ spaces? How do they affect us and how do we recognize them? How does our body absorb the violence of these spaces and how do our education, origins and attitude change the way we think about these places? What emerges when we deviate from binary systems of thought and organization? Samia Henni (1980, DZ/CH) is a writer, historian, and an exhibition maker of the built, destroyed and imagined environments and their relationship with the practices of colonization, war and environmental contamination. Her most recent research has culminated in the exhibitions Performing Colonial Toxicity (2023–; Amsterdam, Zurich, London, Providence, Paris, Berlin, Ottawa), Housing Pharmacology (2020–21; Marseille, Paris), Discreet Violence: Architecture and the French War in Algeria (2017–2022; Zurich, Rotterdam, Berlin, Johannesburg, Paris, Prague, Ithaca and Philadelphia), as well as in the books Colonial Toxicity: Rehearsing French Radioactive Architecture and Landscape in the Sahara (EN, 2024, 2025; FR, 2025), and Architecture of Counterrevolution: The French Army in Northern Algeria (EN, 2017, 2022; FR, 2019); and the volumes Deserts Are Not Empty (EN, 2022, 2025; IT, 2024) and War Zones (2018) of which she was the editor. This project is made possible with the support of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.

Simple and linear forms define the artistic work of Andreas Senoner, whose journey as a woodturner began two years ago. For Senoner, the work begins long before he actually starts turning at the lathe. Always in search of special pieces of wood, the creative craftsman finds his raw material on farms and in the surrounding forests—some finds he even brings back from his travels. Nature also serves as a source of inspiration for Senoner when it comes to shapes and colors. Some pieces are burned, others treated in different ways, but the artist always manages to preserve the true value of the wood and its natural appearance. The shape, the color, the growth structure: everything is made and kept visible, revealing the story of the tree from which the finished piece has grown. Andreas Senoner (born 1962 in Selva di Val Gardena) began learning the carpentry trade at the age of 14. In the workshop, he discovered his passion for wood—a passion that has never left him. The shapes and colors of trees, the vitality and power of branches that defy wind and weather, hold a deep fascination for him. From this fascination grew the desire to learn the art of woodturning. Shortly after retiring, Andreas Senoner acquired a lathe and quickly realized he had found his true calling. “It’s incredibly exciting to observe how a piece of wood transforms through my work. My many years of experience as a carpenter help me to understand the properties of the wood and what I can create from it,” says the artist.

Art exhibition with works from the artists in the gallery "GefängnisLeCarceri".

The exhibition showcases the South Tyrolean section of the UNESCO World Heritage site. The photographs strikingly highlight the beauty of this landscape and its geological significance. The large-format images are freely accessible in the outdoor area of the Visitor Center.

Acquired over the past decade, these videos are being showcased at Museion for the first time, exploring memory through the medium’s experimental techniques, such as loops, overlays, and flickering. As video art remains a vital part of contemporary museums, Museion has actively expanded its collection, embracing this dynamic medium to uncover new meanings through the layering of visual and narrative languages. Currently, the museum holds 167 video works, including 28 installations and 139 single-channel films, which form a crucial part of its 4,450-piece collection. This focus dates back to a pivotal moment in 2007-2008 when Museion acquired 52 video works through the Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) in New York. Since then, video art has remained a key area of growth, serving as a bridge between historical narratives, experimental storytelling, technological innovation, and an intergenerational artistic language. At the heart of this exhibition is an exploration of time and the ghostly presence of the past. The selected videos delve into themes of remembrance and transformation, using archival footage, found materials, and visual distortions to challenge conventional storytelling. Like archaeologists unearthing forgotten histories, the featured artists employ montage, appropriation, and layering to craft narratives that challenge the linearity of time. These latest additions to the Museion collection not only strengthen its role as a contemporary art institution but also hold particular value for the local region. By continuously expanding its video archive, Museion ensures that South Tyrol remains a hub for contemporary artistic discourse, fostering connections between global narratives and local cultural heritage. The exhibition, therefore, serves as a dynamic platform for engaging with the past while reinterpreting it through modern artistic lens. Videos on display: Korakrit Arunanondchai, Untitled (Painting with History in a Room Filled with People with Funny Names 3), 2015 Barbara Gamper, Becoming Otherwise (hot pink triangles and holes, or how to become woman?), 2020 James Richards, Qualities of Life: Living in the Radiant Cold, 2022 Berty Skuber, Epicycles, 2013

The exhibition sheds light on the Peasants' War and its prehistory using archival documents from around 1500, focussing on the social, political and economic aspects of life before and during the peasant uprisings. Through the presentation of archival documents from the Diocesan Archives, works of art and everyday objects, perspectives on the Peasants' War that have been little illuminated to date are shown in order to visualise the multi-layered nature of the historical events and their complex causes. The exhibition builds a bridge between past and present and encourages reflection on the continuity of social upheaval.

Living heritage of the Dolomites The travelling exhibition with 20 impressive panels was designed for the 50th anniversary of the Schlern-Rosengarten Nature Park. The open-air exhibition shows pictures of the impressive landscape of the nature park and the diversity of flora and fauna. The exhibition also tells of the beginnings of the mountain refuges and of the people who live and work in the nature park.

Art meets history: an exciting joint exhibition with artists from Val Gardena/Gröden to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the SS hostages in Villabassa. Artistic creation, whether in wood, on canvas or through photography, as a fragile fragment of freedom.

Dive into the fascinating world of minerals! At the private mineral museum of the Mineral Hotel Natznerhof, you’ll discover a unique collection of over 1,500 minerals from around 50 countries. It’s not only exciting, but also full of surprises and stories surrounding these natural witnesses of history – especially here in South Tyrol. Booking by phone, email or online: Phone: +39 0472 415044 Email: info@mineralienhotel.com www.mineralien.museum/tickets-kaufen Prices With guided tour: Adults €10.00, Children €5.00 With partial tour: Adults €5.00, Children €2.50 Children aged 0–3: free

The exhibition NATURAL ELEMENTS, taking place from May 31 to October 19, 2025, in Seis am Schlern, presents a selection of works by Ahrntal artist Alois Steger.

Working with multimedia, the artist, together with curator Eva von Ingram Harpf, has selected seven artworks for the village center of this Dolomite village, which integrate symbiotically into the historical setting.

Created from natural elements and materials, the works are designed to gradually change over the course of the exhibition due to weathering.

"Boom '70" takes you back to a time of upheaval and economic growth in South Tyrol during the 1970s and 1980s. Modern travelers now arrive by car, reaching even more remote regions. The number of overnight stays explodes, rising from ten to twenty million – mass tourism is here. In the exhibition, contemporary witnesses share stories of the clash between contrasting worlds: industry meets tourism, poverty meets prosperity, church meets bikini. It’s about first encounters with strangers, new roles for women, and friendships across borders – but also about stress, construction frenzy, and tough working conditions.

Immerse yourself in the fascinating world of the Dolomites and experience an unforgettable guided tour of the Nature Park House in San Vigilio. Let yourself be enchanted by the breathtaking landscape, the rich flora and fauna, the mysterious cave world and the exciting stories about the nature park.

This topic will be the focus of our staircase exhibition starting April 1st. This unique exhibition offers a visionary investigation of how travelling might develop and grow in the 21st century and beyond. Using AI images and illustrations, the Touriseum offers a glimpse into the future of travelling. This uncertain future comes to life, prompting reflection and even dreaming. Let yourself be inspired as you explore the possibilities and challenges of the coming age of travel. “The Future of Travelling” presents a collection of creative short texts and their artistic interpretations that will challenge the limits of our imagination. From hypermodern means of transport to sustainable travel options and virtual travel experiences, the exhibition explores a variety of themes that might shape travelling in the coming decades.

Michael Höllrigl’s expressive stone and bronze sculptures will adorn the gardens of the Kränzelhof in 2025, true to his motto “The hand knows more than the head.” “Letting you dream on and on” is the goal of the sculpture exhibition. Whether it’s nearly untouched wilderness or an enchanting cultural landscape, gardens represent the longing for paradise: Tamed nature and untamed inner worlds meet and perhaps grow together. In a place shaped by the interplay of nature and culture, like the Kränzelhof, the things of nature and the things of art point to each other in a way that echoes Joseph von Eichendorff’s immortal line from the poem “Wünschelrute”: “A song sleeps in all things, which dream on and on...” Organisation Kulturverein K.art. 15.00-18.00 (free admission) Price: Garden entry

Dolomythos-Museum at Innichen presents: Women scientists Many women, hardly mentioned in earlier times, made important contributions. We honour these often forgotten personalities, as well as the reserches of ordinary people from the valleys.

Opening: THOMAS BIASOTTO - MASSIV Soft Opening: PETER SENONER - PEAKADILLY CHAPTER02 12/07/2025 11:00 a.m. LUMEN. Museum of mountain photography, Kronplatz/Plan de Corones, Bruneck/Brunico, Southtyrol Registration needed. Click link below to register! Registration also includes the cable car ticket. Registration deadline: 11/07/2025, 15:00 p.m. (after that, registrations can only be accepted for participation in the exhibition opening, NOT for the cable car). The event will be held in german language.

On July 12, 2025 at 6 PM, the newly renovated barn at Hotel Amazonas will reopen with a special event: Gerd Sulzenbacher will give a German-language reading from his debut book “Abriss” (Engeler Verlag, 2025), accompanied by a soundscape and live set by sound artist Hannes Hoelzl. At the same time, an exhibition will open featuring works by Aaa Biczysko, Arnold Holzknecht, Margareth Kaserer, Clara Mayr, Alexander Wierer, and TETA (Jörg Zemmler). The barn, long abandoned and damaged, is now filled with light and ready for new life. The invited artists have passed through, worked in, or been connected to Hotel Amazonas in recent months – their works speak of transitions, cracks, and new beginnings. Sulzenbacher’s reading moves through a drifting urban life with wit and depth, while Hoelzl’s music opens the space sonically – first experimental, then dense and immersive. A crack still runs through the foundation, but the roof holds. The lightning has passed, wildflowers bloom – and with them, life returns. Supported by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – Department of German Culture.

40 castles around the Sarntal Valley will be on display at Karl Pfaffstaller's picture exhibition.

The World Bodypainting Festival (WBF) is coming to Sterzing / Vipiteno in South Tyrol! For 28 years, the World Bodypainting Festival (WBF) has been the most important event in the international bodypainting scene. The only World Award event in 2025 will be the Camouflage Bodypainting category, taking place on July 12 and 13, 2025, in Sterzing. For many years, this competition has celebrated the art of optical illusion, where artists masterfully blend painted bodies into their surroundings. The growing enthusiasm for this category has led to an expansion to a two-day competition, giving more artists the chance to showcase their talents. The picturesque alpine town Sterzing, provides the perfect setting for this event. With its historic alleys, medieval towers, and breathtaking mountain landscapes, the town transforms into an open-air gallery. The peaceful atmosphere allows artists to fully focus on their craft, while visitors can enjoy a unique and immersive experience.Starting July 10, 2025, special side events, including workshops and networking gatherings, will help prepare participants for the competition and foster creative exchange. Sterzing is also home to the internationally renowned, multiple world body painting champion Johannes Stötter. Website: www.bodypainting-festival.com

on the 2nd floor in the Lengmoos Commandery. Opening hours: Wed, Fri, Sat & Sun 4-6 p.m., Free admission. Vernissage: Sunday, 29/6 - 5 p.m. This series of images emerged from the current concern for the state of our planet. The way we burden our Earth, exploit and exhaust it, penetrates deeply into our consciousness. A dizzying web of life is interconnected within the biosphere. Bacteria, microorganisms, plant, fungus, and animal species coexist with humans in a delicate layer of soil, water, and air. We are connected through food streams. Sustained only by the energy of the sun, the Earth system behaves like a single organism, striving to regenerate and sustain itself and life (Gaia Theory, James Lovelock/Lynn Margulis). Awareness of the delicate and fragile fabric of life leads to the astonishing realization that the Earth as a whole — the ecosystem itself, with its physical, chemical, and biological components — is resilient and enduring through change, decay, and emergence. It continually regulates itself anew. Life goes on and ultimately survives us humans. Our human struggle lies in attempting to shape everything according to our own ideas through intervention. Yet our existence is actually owed to the Earth's biological diversity. If we wish to preserve the web of life to which we belong, we must restrain ourselves and observe the dynamic structure in its ability to self-heal, better understand it, and support it. In its fragile delicacy, the fabric of life is filled with beauty. Hanna Battisti is an artist and lecturer in art didactics at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. In her art, she primarily uses photography, a medium she learned from Rupert Larl at the Fotoforum West in Innsbruck in the 1990s. Since her time abroad in Nepal, Tibet, and China, she has practiced the art of Far Eastern ink painting. She has been exhibiting her works continuously at home and abroad since 1997, most recently FUTURO FRAGILE, 2024 in Innsbruck. She has published several books, most recently NATURA VIVA, ArcaEdizioni 2020. Since 2008, she has been a member of the South Tyrolean Artists' Association.

The Association of Artists of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano presents a new project to explore the local artistic reality. The exhibition project aims to investigate the subtle boundary between dream and reality, a fascinating and thought-provoking theme. Through a selection of works by contemporary artists, the exhibition seeks to examine how the dream world influences the perception of reality and vice versa, thus creating a dialogue between the imaginary and the concrete.

July, 5 to August, 18 Tuesday - Saturday: 10.30 am. - 12.30 pm. and 3.00 pm. - 6.00 pm. Sunday: 10:30 am. - 12:30 pm. (except Cafè Atelier Pinta Pichl)

In March 2025, Museion will present a landmark exhibition about the relationship between graffiti and contemporary fine art. The first museum exhibition in Italy to investigate the art history of spray paint, Graffiti focuses on how the visual vernacular of the city and the street has entered the studio. Above all, the show contends that graffiti is a way of seeing and experiencing urban landscapes. Bringing together transdisciplinary works from across a 75 year period, the show centers on an approach that moves beyond the historization of graffiti as an “outsider” practice. Beginning with pre-graffiti spray paintings from the 1950s and 1960s, the exhibition unfolds through works by renowned graffiti writers of the 1980s, and contemporary artists who implement graffiti into their diverse practices. Spray paint, the tool which characterizes contemporary graffiti, was patented in the United States in 1951. Between its introduction as a product in the 1950s and the late 1960s – when the form of graffiti that is widely recognized today was first practiced – there was a lapse of almost 20 years, during which fine artists also experimented with the tool. Once spray paint became the dominant style for graffiti writing, its subsequent use in any capacity became tied to graffiti. A simple line of spray paint immediately calls to mind associations with rebellion and urbanity, whether this is intentional or not. Occupying 1,500 square meters across the two largest floors of Museion, the show features key works from the latter half of the 20th Century until the present day, as well as site-specific new works. Graffiti takes – as its point of departure – works from the 1950s and 1960s by artists such as Hedda Sterne, David Smith, Martin Barré, Dan Christensen, Carol Rama, and Charlotte Posenenske. In juxtaposition are spray paint on canvas works by seminal graffiti writers such as Rammellzee, Futura 2000, Blade, and Lee Quiñones. A selection of significant 1980s and 1990s paintings, which clearly reference or incorporate graffiti, by Lady Pink & Jenny Holzer, Martin Wong & LA2, and Keith Haring, is followed by more recent examples of spray paintings by Heike-Karin Föll, Michael Krebber, and Christopher Wool. Digital tag drawings by Georgie Nettell meet Patricia L. Boyd’s photogram of a bus shelter and Karin Sander’s Patina Paintings, among many other works. This part of the exhibition further includes artworks by contemporary graffiti writers such as Kunle Martins and WANTO, and a new piece by N.O.Madski in dialogue with sculptures by KAYA. The exhibition continues in the form of a city scape, occupied by various works incorporating urban realities. This includes films and photography by Charles Atlas and Manuel DeLanda, as well as numerous large-scale installations and sculptures such as Klara Lidén’s readymade trash cans and junction boxes, or Josephine Pryde’s New Media Express, a model train covered in miniature graffiti. Graffiti methods of mark making are reflected in R.I.P. Germain’s sculpture of a false storefront, a new wall installation by Matias Faldbakken, and street casts by Alix Vernet. This exhibition inaugurates a new long-term Museion research project which focuses on soft and non-violent forms of resistance – and art as a social and urban practice. The exhibition is co-curated by New York based artist and archivist Ned Vena (b. 1982 Boston, USA). His artistic practice, which involves paintings, sculptures, installations, and films, was deeply informed by his active practice as a graffiti writer and his profound research into the history of graffiti; and vice versa, his thorough studies of the history of painting also shaped his understanding of graffiti. Both his personal dedication and cross-disciplinary archival knowledge manifest in the exhibition.

The exhibition ‘Mercanti si diventa’ was created with the intention of investigating the figure of the merchant, the protagonist and soul of the city of Bozen from the earliest times, and his evolution from a ‘simple’ shopkeeper to a full-fledged fair merchant. On a local level, this qualitative leap took place between the 17th and 18th centuries, thanks to the spread of innovative trade manuals, the growing importance of Bolzano's fairs, and the role of the Mercantile Magistrate. The exhibition, which was realised thanks to loans from institutions, public archives and private collectors, aims to revive the intense commercial activity that characterised Bolzano's fairs in their heyday. The exhibition includes a reconstruction of the studio of an enterprising merchant. The maps, paintings and guild insignia on display emphasise how important transport activities were for international trade. On display are some valuable manuscripts from the Menz Archive, which give an insight into the complex structure that underpinned the organisation of a market, and some rare printed books, veritable encyclopaedias ‘of trade’. The exhibition ends with an inlaid panel by Alois Delug, an unfinished work from the early 20th century and exhibited for the first time at the Mercantile Museum. It ideally sums up those atmospheres, giving us a snapshot of the past of Bolzano, a city of fairs and markets. Exhibition in Italian and German

The group exhibition Earthly Communities invites visitors to reflect on the farreaching consequences of European colonization of the indigenous territories of Abya Yala* since the 15th century. In multimedia artworks, eleven international artists explore the traces of colonial intervention in the environment and society. They focus on various areas: agriculture, urbanism, archaeology – as well as extractive processes that continue to cause and reinforce profound ecological and social inequalities to this day. Inspired by Achille Mbembe’s vision of an ‘earthly community’, the exhibition calls for a new, reparative attitude that includes humans, animals, plants, minerals, and spiritual beings alike. The works question the Western understanding of ‘nature’ and open spaces for alternative perspectives in which indigenous resistance, sustainable knowledge and a lived connection to the earth become visible. Local references – such as a return to earlier knowledge in South Tyrol – create a dialogue between global experience and regional responsibility. Earthly Communities thus artistically connects social and ecological justice. * Abya Yala is an indigenous term for the Latin American continent, that from a decolonial perspective, symbolizes living earth and cultural self-determination. Saturday, 21 June 2025, 5 pm: Artist talk EN 7 pm: Official opening of the exhibition DE, IT, EN, with contributions by the curators Lucrezia Cippitelli and Simone Frangi Welcome: Katharina Zeller, Mayor of Merano Antonella Costanzo, Municipal Advisor for Italian Culture Martina Oberprantacher, Director of Art Merano 8.30 pm: DJ set by AMAZON, Marconi Park, in collaboration with Coworking della Memoria Sunday, 22/06/2025, 11 pm: Curator's guided tour of the exhibition IT 12.30: Flows over unities - Participative action and food Performance, Luigi Coppola IT/EN, Marconi Park, in collaboration with Coworking della Memoria & BAU - Institute for Contemporary Art and Ecology. To mark the opening of the exhibition, Kunst Meran invites you to a varied weekend programme of events at the Kunsthaus and in Marconi Park.

Scenes of peaceful life of shepherds and grazing animals, of hard work in adverse weather and in mostly uncomfortable areas: the cultural history of pastoralism moves between these two poles. When people began to settle in the Alps, bringing their domestic animals with them, the post-glacial landscape began to change. The exhibition illustrates the steps of this development up to today's debate about grazing animals and their predators. Sculptures, models, games, interviews and videos on the work of shepherds together with their dogs provide insights into the cultural practice of pastoralism and the importance of shepherds, who not only protect the flock from wolves. Shepherding can in fact play a decisive role on the environment, biodiversity, animal welfare, climate and human nutrition.