In his work, artist Philipp Messner explores complex questions of perception: Where are the boundaries between art and nature? How do impressions of artificiality or naturalness arise? How do digital experiences change the relationship between object, viewer, and space? And how does this change shape our analog reality?
He arranges his sculptures and paper works into multi-layered spatial installations, creating surreal landscapes through which exhibition visitors move as if through a kind of obstacle course.
He works with highly heterogeneous materials—shimmering aluminum panels, organically meandering silvery tubes, paint-soaked marble slabs, and watercolors. His inspiration also comes from a wide variety of sources, such as Arte Povera, or from his native region, the Dolomites.
His sculptures are created in a field of tension between paradoxical conceptual ideas and respond to the architecture of the Villa Stuck studio building; in particular, the installation created especially for this location—a “house within a house” in Franz von Stuck’s artist villa.
Rathausgalerie on the move:
The Rathausgalerie Munich is presenting this solo exhibition by Philipp Messner in cooperation with the Museum Villa Stuck. (The Rathausgalerie will not be available in 2026 due to renovation work.)
Philipp Messner (*1975) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (ENSBA) in Paris. His works can be found in many public collections, including the Museion in Bolzano, the Center for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, the ERES Foundation, and the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich. Philipp Messner has received numerous scholarships and awards. He lives and works in Munich and Berlin.
Curated by Nina Oswald and Michael Buhrs.