Leopold Kessler

Arbeiten im öffentlichen Raum
Wien Museum

Subtle Interventions into the Cityscape

For the past two decades, Leopold Kessler (b. Munich, 1976; lives and works in Vienna) has staged pinpoint alterations to the urban infrastructure to investigate psychosocial phenomena that take on a political dimension in public settings. His work encompasses unannounced interventions, objects, installations, and videos. He frames a critical perspective on the use and privatization of public spaces and often intervenes with unauthorized manipulations. The Academy Cable, for example, ran across Vienna, connecting his private apartment to an outlet at the Academy of Fine Arts.

Released in conjunction with the exhibition Leopold Kessler. Works in Public Space at the Wien Museum, this publication not only presents his best-known works, it also offers insight into his sculptural early oeuvre and the conceptual groundwork that underlies many of his projects. With essays by Caroline Lillian Schopp, Gerd Sulzenbacher, and Vincent Weisl and a conversation between Johan Frederik Hartle and the artist.

The publication was sustainably produced and carries the Cradle to Cradle Silver certification for environmentally friendly and circular production processes.