Hans Schabus

Hans Schabus was born in 1970 in Watschig, Austria, and lives and works in Vienna. His interdisciplinary practice encompasses sculpture, installation, film, photography, drawing, and site-specific interventions. A central concern of his work is the relationship between objects, architecture, landscape, and the body, often transforming or reconfiguring spaces in ways that alter how they are perceived and experienced. Schabus studied sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Bruno Gironcoli from 1991 to 1996. His approach to sculpture extends beyond the production of autonomous objects, frequently incorporating architectural structures, spatial interventions, and processes of physical movement. Materials and their specific contexts play an important role in his work, which often develops in direct response to the characteristics of a particular site. Movement, exploration, and the experience of space are recurring elements in Schabus’s practice. In *Western* (2002), presented at Manifesta 4 in Frankfurt, he filmed himself sailing a small wooden boat named *Forlorn* through the sewers of Vienna, New York, and Frankfurt. The installation at Portikus consisted of a darkened room with an oval opening through which visitors entered, where the film was projected. The work transformed an inaccessible underground infrastructure into the setting for an unusual journey through the hidden spaces of three cities. In 2005, Schabus represented Austria at the 51st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. His work for the Austrian Pavilion involved a substantial architectural intervention that transformed the interior of the building and created an unusual relationship between the existing architecture and the sculptural environment. This approach exemplifies his interest in treating architecture not simply as a container for art but as an active material within the work. Throughout his career, Schabus has presented his work internationally in museums, galleries, and major exhibitions. His practice has been shown in institutional contexts in Austria and abroad, and he participated in Manifesta 4 in Frankfurt in 2002. His exhibitions and projects frequently combine sculpture with architectural intervention, film, and spatial construction, creating situations in which the viewer's physical movement becomes an integral part of the experience of the work. Schabus has also maintained an important role in art education. He is Professor of Sculpture and Space at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, where the programme focuses on the possibilities of sculpture in relation to material, context, society, and the environment. The course places particular emphasis on connecting artistic production with its social surroundings and on direct engagement with materials such as wood, metal, and prefabricated elements. Across sculpture, installation, film, photography, and architectural intervention, Schabus approaches space as both a physical structure and a field of experience. His works encourage viewers to reconsider familiar environments, revealing hidden passages, thresholds, and relationships between architecture, landscape, and the body while expanding the possibilities of contemporary sculpture.