February 6–May 10, 2026
The exhibition The World Without Us brings together artistic positions that draw on concepts such as ‘deep time’—time periods spanning billions of years, in which human existence is little more than a fleeting moment—and ‘cosmic horror’, a feeling caught between fascination and terror when faced with non-human existence that is inconceivable to our notions of time and space. Alongside contemporary artworks, the exhibition at the Lentos Kunstmuseum also presents objects and artefacts that gesture towards a world beyond human influence—a cosmos whose dimensions exceed the limits of our imagination.
As a result of the Enlightenment, science extended the traditional Western conception of space and time into the realms of sheer infinity. The universe became older, larger and colder. This coincided with a sense of unease that mankind was no longer at the centre of the universe, no longer rooted in a world view that was capable of wresting ultimate meaning from history. The foretold apocalypse gave way to a geological continuity of disasters and changes. Beyond our own threats, an image emerges of a world that existed long before us and will persist long after our disappearance. There is a dawning awareness of an uncanny, sublime indifference towards the human scale in a universe that is neither empty nor animate, but rather undead.
“I have seen the dark universe yawning
Where the black planets roll without aim;
Where they roll in their horror unheeded,
Without knowledge or luster or name.”
H.P. Lovecraft, “Nemesis”
Artists: Klemens Brosch, Martin Dammann, DARUM, Albrecht Dürer, Mark Fridvalszki, Sophia Gatzkan, H.R. Giger, Anna Jermolaewa, Alfred Kubin, Nicolás Lamas, Angelika Loderer, Christian Kosmas Mayer, Nika Neelova, Markus Proschek, Natalia Domínguez Rangel, Katharina Sieverding, Philip Topolovac, Chin Tsao, Martin Walde, Michał Zawada
Curators: Markus Proschek, Hemma Schmutz
Curatorial Assistant: Sandra Eichinger
Press inquiries: rosalie.siegl@lentos.at, or see the press kit.
