Does the “here and now” captivate us? With what joys and what dramas? What can we hope for? What can we do?

We explore these questions with Donya Aalipour and Käthe Schönle. Two artists who live and work in Vienna, each with their own sense of direction and their own movement—moving even dancing toward one another as well. They present powerful, impasto-rich, color-saturated paintings. Resonant in their immediate presence. With beguiling lightness and weighty gravity. Subjects that captivate and—for viewers who so desire—lead into the depths of human existence.

For the artist Donya Aalipour, who was born and raised in Iran, dance is the recurring theme in the works of this exhibition: in her paintings and, for the first time, in a video installation. In the video, she edits together documentary footage from Iran. Material that she also translates into her painting. She shows people dancing at funerals, in public. Dance, which the mullah regime prohibits, is a way to confront suffering as a community. To protest together. Against dictatorship and subjugation. Dancing is a minimal yet existential form of action, resistance, and empowerment against the regime.

Käthe Schönle adopts a perspective that looks more toward the future. She is concerned with discovering possible spheres of action. While her artistic practice often begins with a reduced figuration—visible in the exhibition through small-format works—she develops a more visually oriented, abstract, and symbolically imaginative visual language in her “Solarpunk” series. The human body remains present, but less as a representation than as a reference. Schönle’s painting creates visual spaces that inspire visions of a hopeful future. She regards imagination as a prerequisite for social transformation—navigating the tension between fragility and constructive optimism.

In dialogue, the two positions open up a field of tension between immediate gesture and
speculative design. In doing so, they explore the prerequisites for action, the possibilities of the individual, the group, and society—and the role of images in shaping the present and the future.

SPECIAL EVENT:

Book Launch & Artist Talk at AG18 Vienna

AG18 Vienna cordially invites you to the launch of the monograph:

“KÄTHE SCHÖNLE – The Awake Moment”
on June 9, 2026, at 6:00 p.m.
with artist Käthe Schönle in attendance.

The event will feature an artist talk with Paula Watzl (PARNASS).

The monograph will be published in May 2026 by Verlag für moderne Kunst Wien and, across 256 pages, offers a comprehensive insight into the artist’s work spanning painting, drawing, collage, and screen printing.

We look forward to seeing you there.