Founded by gallerists Christian Meyer and Renate Kainer, Galerie Meyer Kainer is a leading Austrian contemporary art gallery based in Vienna’s central 1st District, near the opulent Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien.
Read MoreIn 1976 the gallery’s first iteration, Galerie Metropol, was established in Vienna, with a New York branch in operation between 1980 and 1990. Opening under the name Galerie Meyer Kainer at the current Eschenbachgasse 9 location in 1999, the gallery actively engages with and contributes to the Austrian contemporary art scene, presenting local and international talent in Vienna.
With the later addition of the Boltensternraum Baden and Boltenstern.Raum exhibition spaces, Galerie Meyer Kainer has continued to extend the scope of its programme and its reputation as a space for innovation.
Galerie Meyer Kainer Artists
Working with a broad selection of Austrian and international artists, Galerie Meyer Kainer holds a diverse roster.
Among the gallery’s artists are established international names, including leading Austrian multimedia artist, Heimo Zobernig whose broad practice interrogates modernism’s formal language and subverts the high ideals of the monochrome and the grid; Japanese contemporary Pop pioneer Yoshitomo Nara; and the late Austrian contemporary artist Franz West, a creator of unconventional sculptures, objects, and furniture often beckoning audience participation.
The gallery also works to build the international status of artists like American visual artist Rachel Harrision, known for her distinct mixed material sculptures and assemblages that blur boundaries between abstraction and figuration; the often eccentrically-costumed Estonian mixed-media and performance artist Kris Lemsalu, known for her surreal, utopian work; and the Austrian group Gelitin, known for their bizarre, sensational live art events.
Galerie Meyer Kainer also works to bolster the career of emerging artists like Vienna-based South Korean installation artist and painter Min Yoon, Fukishima-born, Los Angeles-based performance artists Ei Arakawa and the often satirical and politically-engaged mixed media artists Verena Dengler from Vienna.
Galerie Meyer Kainer Exhibitions and Art Fairs
Galerie Meyer Kainer runs an active exhibition programme of solo and curated group shows that present Viennese and international artists across its gallery spaces. The exhibition programme is accompanied by various lectures, and collaborative public projects with institutions like the Museum der Moderne Salzburg and the Belvedere in Vienna .
Highlighting its institutional acumen, in 2007 the gallery hosted Hamsterwheel: a travelling exhibition project co-curated by Franz West and featuring artists such as Sarah Lucas, Urs Fischer, Rudolf Polanszky, and Ugo Rondinone.
The gallery also participates in major art fairs including Frieze London; FIAC, Paris; Art Cologne; viennacontemporary; and Independent New York.