Silke Grabinger‘s artworks and concepts combine contemporary dance with performative art and robotics. Her particular focus is critical examination of social phenomena, artistic paradigms and the function and position of the audience.

She was first introduced to breakdancing in her youth, and as „B-Girl SILK“ and in various teams, she achieved success in numerous international competitions. After being a performer in the Cirque du Soleil production „LOVE“ in Las Vegas she created numerous solo and group works.

In her artistic practice, she focuses on exploring the transfer of meaning in performance art by comparing it to expressions through non-human vessels such as robotics and digital art, often in collaboration with AI.

More info here.

Kosta Tonev (*1980, Bulgaria) is a Vienna-based artist whose practice explores the intersections of history and politics. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the National Academy of Art in Sofia and a Master’s degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Beyond his foundational training, Tonev embraces a multidisciplinary approach, integrating performative and text-based practices across media such as drawing, video, installation, and sound. Rooted in research and storytelling, his work often references music, film, intellectual discourse, and popular culture. With humour and playfulness, Tonev offers a history of the present told in the first person. His recent solo projects include the exhibition “Tales from the Dustbin of History” at Bildraum in Vienna (2023) and the web-based work “Late Night in Sorrento” (2020) hosted by Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart and ZKM | Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe. Amongst others, he has participated in “Making Worlds: An Imagineering Project” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei (2022) and “Red Vienna” at the Vienna Museum in Vienna (2019).

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Verena Schneider is an interdisciplinary artist, dancer, handstand artist, and choreographer with a background in biology. She integrates movement disciplines into a sustainable performance practice rooted in contemporary dance, acrobatics, and hand balancing. Trained at FLIC Scuola di Circo and Le Lido, she has performed for choreographers like Bert Gstettner, Doris Uhlich, and Le GdRA. Co-founder of Kumquat and Vienna’s Freifall, she collaborates widely and received the 2024 DANCEWEB Scholarship. Currently pursuing an MA in Choreography, her research explores identity, the body’s ecology, and interdisciplinary performance. Her work has been shown internationally, including at WUK, WERK-X, and Centquatre Paris.

More info here.

Julia Taschler is an artist based in Vienna. Originally from South Tyrol, her work responds to regional culture,  including food, folk tales, language, and the landscape, by combining jarring, surreal contrasts between her use of material and thematic choices. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in the class of Daniel Richter.

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Sara Lanner is a choreographer, performance artist and visual artist based in Vienna. Her work deals with topics of the body in relation to its context and the self as social choreography and sculpture. The ambivalences of interpersonal relationships and their points of contact, as well as our material and ecological realities, form the starting point for her artistic reflections. Through this her work negotiates questions of cultural and (body) linguistic identity and it explores spaces between trust and dependency. Sara Lanners works take place on stage, in exhibition spaces and at interdisciplinary and public locations. Most recently, her dance performance WEAVING INFRASTRUCTURES (2024) was shown at brut Vienna. Her dance performance Mining Minds (2021) was shown at brut Wien and at ImPulsTanz. Sara Lanner was awarded the H13 Lower Austria Prize for Performance for her performance and exhibition MINE (2021) and the Audience Award of the Ö1-Talentebörse 2020 for her work Mother Tongue (2019) at the Leopold Museum Vienna. Further presentations: Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Kunsthalle Wien, Exhibit Galerie, das weisse haus, Tanzquartier Wien, brut Wien, Galerie 5020 Salzburg, Stadtgalerie Salzburg, OPEN Festival China, MIPAF Macau, HART Haus Hongkong, Künstlerhaus Nürnberg, OK Offenes Kulturhaus Linz, among others. 

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Marija Šabanović was born in Niš, Yugoslavia, where she earned a master’s degree in architecture. In 2012, she moved to Vienna and worked as a youth worker with girls* and young women* before fully dedicating herself to photography. Marija’s photographic work is often combined with narrative as a means of exploring themes such as the body, identity, social norms,  and aesthetics of social classes. Marija Šabanović has exhibited in group and solo exhibitions in Vienna, Thessaloniki, and Margate, and at festivals and institutions such as Foto Wien, Skin Festival, and Belvedere 21.

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Alina Sokolova’s artistic practice can be described as an extensive exploration of movement. She is particularly interested in the repetitive gestures of contemporary labor and the mechanization of everyday life, which she primarily explores through painting. At times, she creates immersive experiences where the image is dynamically extended through video projections, choreographies, and audience interaction. She is fascinated by movements that have become common property, serving as a testament to their time and the ever-changing social climate. Questions of animal-human cohabitation, leisure, productivity, consumption, and mass choreography phenomena in the age of digital media are all present throughout her series of paintings.

More info here.

Since the beginning of March 2025, seven new artists have been settling into our creative space, bringing vibrant energy and new perspectives. Their artistic practices span across painting, sculpture, performance, new media, and choreography offering a diverse and engaging range of work. These Vienna-based emerging artists were selected through an open call held in late autumn 2024, and we cannot wait for you to discover the interesting projects they are working on!

Alina Sokolova
Alina Sokolova’s artistic practice can be described as an extensive exploration of movement. She is particularly interested in the repetitive gestures of contemporary labor and the mechanization of everyday life, which she primarily explores through painting. More info here.

Julia Taschler
In Julia Taschler’s work, she responds to regional culture,  including food, folk tales, language, and the landscape, by combining jarring, surreal contrasts between her use of material and thematic choices. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in the class of Daniel Richter. More info here.

Kosta Tonev
In his practice, he explores the intersections of history and politics. He embraces a multidisciplinary approach, integrating performative and text-based practices across media such as drawing, video, installation, and sound. With humour and playfulness, Kosta Tonev offers a history of the present told in the first person. More info here.

Marija Šabanović
Marija Šabanović’s photographic work is often combined with narrative as a means of exploring themes such as the body, identity, social norms,  and aesthetics of social classes. She has exhibited in group and solo exhibitions in Vienna, Thessaloniki, and Margate, and at festivals and institutions such as Foto Wien, Skin Festival, and Belvedere 21. More info here.

Sara Lanner
In her work Sara Lanner deals with topics of the body in relation to its context and the self as social choreography and sculpture. The ambivalences of interpersonal relationships and their points of contact, as well as our material and ecological realities, form the starting point for her artistic reflections. More info here.

Silke Grabinger
In her artworks and concepts, she combine contemporary dance with performative art and robotics, often in collaboration with AI. Her work focuses on critically examining social phenomena, artistic paradigms, and the role and position of the audience. More info here.

Verena Schneider
Verena Schneider is an interdisciplinary artist, dancer, handstand artist, and choreographer with a background in biology. She integrates movement disciplines into a sustainable performance practice rooted in contemporary dance, acrobatics, and hand balancing. Trained at FLIC Scuola di Circo and Le Lido, she has performed for choreographers like Bert Gstettner, Doris Uhlich, and Le GdRA. Co-founder of Kumquat and Vienna’s Freifall, she collaborates widely and received the 2024 DANCEWEB Scholarship. Currently pursuing an MA in Choreography, her research explores identity, the body’s ecology, and interdisciplinary performance. Her work has been shown internationally, including at WUK, WERK-X, and Centquatre Paris. More info here.