Guan Xiao: Teenager / Sophie von Hellermann: Get Your Head Around It

Guan Xiao: Teenager 
Kunsthalle Wien presents the first solo exhibition in Austria by Guan Xiao. Comprising an entirely new body of sculpture and painting, it takes what Guan Xiao describes as an “ambiguous life stage“ as a starting point for works that reflect upon the currents, conflicts and absurdities of a society impacted by the values of capitalism and liberalism: 

“A teenager is typically thought to be impulsive, led by their intuition and open to possibilities, changes and uncertainty. They can be dramatic, riven with self-doubt. I see them as both challenging and conquering reality and these ideas echo through this body of work which has a lot to do with this conflicted state of change and uncertainty.“ —Guan Xiao 

A large, furry A-Frame structure bisects the space, creating a tunnel at the centre of the exhibition. Animated by light and smoke, it harbours a collection of cast aluminium objects including scaled-up items of cutlery, a moka pot and a series of enlarged eggs. Outside are a series of gnarled tree roots cast in brass, painted and appended with motorcycle parts and cartoon-like clouds of scribble. These anthropomorphic sculptures with mesh plates or antennae-like wands populate the space like a cast of characters. Two modular columns extend respectively pink and blue arms from aluminium, claw-like bases that resemble oversized bunches of bananas. On the walls, a triptych of panels simulates large, palette-shaped windows covered in a thick layer of paint.

Guan Xiao originally trained as a filmmaker before becoming known for creating sculpture that triggers an impulse for us to create our own narratives and tell stories about what we see. Earlier works resembled museological displays or photography studios that appeared to unite an eclectic selection of objects and images in one scheme. More recent sculpture refers to the Chinese custom of displaying polished tree roots in domestic settings. The practice of root carving dates back to the Warring States Period (474–221 BC), preserving the natural, given form of the wood. Its popularity over the centuries made it a symbol of economic wealth, while becoming a worn-out cultural cliché, denoting a lack of sophistication. In Guan Xiao’s work, the tree root becomes the basis of a singular, mythical creature in an ever-growing multitude of animal or human-like figures. Working with an array of elements—some meticulously hand-crafted, others mass produced—she references a broad range of cultural material that is defamiliarized and uncoupled from its associations to create an ambiguous, semi-fictional space and time.

Teenager returns to fundamental subjects such as food, clothing and shelter to address questions of progress and civilisation, tradition and spirituality that are central to the multi-faceted, playful and poetic work of Guan Xiao. The “conflicted state“ of the teenager is used as a metaphor for a society that the artist perceives to be suspended between “devotion and restraint”, needs and desires and ancient, philosophical, social and ethical values that are “in direct opposition” to the economic system of capitalism: 

“China’s imperial history and Confucianism praise restraint and suppress individuality. Yet subcultures, independent cultures throughout history emphasise individuality […] This contradiction is fundamentally between the philosophical systems of Asia and the economic system of capitalism – a conflict between two modes of thought […] You might say capitalism is about ‘construction’, while Asian philosophy is about ‘deconstruction.’” —Guan Xiao  

Publication
The exhibition is accompanied by the first monograph on Guan Xiao. Published in English and German, it includes new essays by Chelsea Qianxi Liu, curator at UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Bejing and Sarah Johanna Theurer, curator at Haus der Kunst, Munich alongside an extensive interview between the artist and Michelle Cotton, Artistic Director Kunsthalle Wien.

Limited edition 
Guan Xiao has created a limited-edition sculpture as part of a new series of artists’ editions produced in support of Kunsthalle Wien’s programme. Soda takes the form of a large green apple, cast in brass and painted with a pearlescent, high gloss finish. For further information on Kunsthalle Wien’s editions, please contact shop@kunsthallewien.at.

Sophie von Hellermann: Get Your Head Around It 
Kunsthalle Wien presents the second in its series of annual public art commissions in the Museumsquartier. Sophie von Hellermann has created an extensive new work on canvas for the 62-metre vitrine on the south-west wall of the Kunsthalle’s building.  

Von Hellermann’s paintings quote fact and fiction, drawing diversely from history and culture to develop expansive, narrative compositions. Using broad-brushes to apply acrylic and raw pigment on unprimed canvas, her images are imbued with a luminosity and a sense of movement and weightlessness that contributes to their fleeting, dream-like or cinematic quality. Get Your Head Around It pays tribute to the Viennese writer, cybernetician, language theorist and musician Oswald Wiener with whom von Hellermann studied Erkenntnistheorie (epistemology) while at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in the 1990s. The work is inspired by a conversation between the artist and her tutor, referring to Wiener’s theory that the mind functions like a machine processing mental imagery in programmed sequences that guide the movement of “signs” or information. According to von Hellermann, Wiener maintained that “there is nothing in our heads”, asking her if she could see something in her mind, to which she replied “yes, I’ve painted it”.

Von Hellermann’s commission combines subjects from natural sciences with references to the history of philosophy and culture informed in part by the work’s proximity to institutions such as Vienna’s Natural History Museum. Images of planets, the sun, moon and stars are accompanied by a proliferation of animals including deer, horses, birds and dolphins. A pair of black and white swans make a passing reference to the Viennese philosopher Karl Popper and his theory of Kritischer Rationalismus while other motifs include the Baum der Erkenntnis (Tree of Knowledge); the cave paintings at Lascaux and Plato’s speleological allegory. The frieze ends with a string of telegraph poles, an explosion, darkness, blue sky and a red sunset—referencing Wiener’s concept for a “Bio-Adapter” that would integrate humans within cybernetic apparatus. First described in his novel die verbesserung von mitteleuropa (The Improvement of Central Europe), it would facilitate the transfer of consciousness to electronic circuits while allowing the body to decompose, offering “a complete solution of all world problems”. 

The commission is von Hellermann’s first solo exhibition in Austria.

Limited edition
Sophie von Hellermann has supported Kunsthalle Wien with a new edition. Diskutable Skizzen is a series of 13 unique watercolours which are sketches for different parts of Get Your Head Around It. For further information on Kunsthalle Wien’s editions, please contact shop@kunsthallewien.at.

About the artists
Guan Xiao (b. 1983, Chongqing, China) has held solo exhibitions at Bonner Kunstverein; Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (both 2019); Kunsthalle Winterthur (2018); Jeu de Paume, Paris (2016); K11 Art Foundation, Shanghai and ICA, London (both 2016). Her work has also been exhibited at Start Museum, Shanghai (2024); Mudam Luxembourg (2023 and 2021); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2023); Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart; Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (both 2022); the 34th Bienial de São Paulo; the 58th Belgrade Biennale (both 2021); X Museum Triennial; Kunstmuseum St. Gallen; Sharjah Art Foundation (all 2020); Triennale Kleinplastik Fellbach; Honolulu Biennial; Migros Museum, Zurich (all 2019); the 57th Venice Biennale; Julia Stoschek Collection, Berlin; M HKA Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp (all 2017); 9th Berlin Biennale; ZKM, Karlsruhe (both 2016) and the 13th Biennale de Lyon (2015). Her public art commissions include works for Skulpturenpark Köln (2020); Anyang Public Art Project (2019) and High Line, New York (2017). Guan Xiao lives and works in Beijing.

Sophie von Hellermann (b. 1975, Munich) has held solo exhibitions at Space K, Seoul (2025); Turner Contemporary, Margate (2021); Kunstverein Hannover (2017); Firstsite, Colchester (2013); Le Consortium, Dijon (2009); Chisenhale Gallery, London; Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen (both 2006) and Saatchi Gallery, London (2001). Her work has also been exhibited at Brücke Museum, Berlin; Langen Foundation, Neuss (both 2024); Milwaukee Art Museum (2023); Hayward Gallery, London (2021); Jerwood Visual Arts, London; Kunsthalle Bielefeld (both 2015); Gallery Met, Metropolitan Opera, New York (2014); Tate Britain, London (2011) and Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2002). She lives and works in London and Margate.

Guan Xiao: Teenager is generously supported by LEAP Art Foundation. Kunsthalle Wien is financed by Magistratsabteilung Kultur der Stadt Wien (MA 7). The artistic programme is also supported by the members and patrons of the Kunsthalle Wien Club.

Also on view
Burn The Diaries, Read Them Out Loud. On annotating, editing and making text in contemporary art (until October 19, 2025) / Ibrahim Mahama: Zilijifa (until November 2, 2025)