Guglielmo Castelli: Sweet Baby Motel

Kunsthalle Wien presents the first exhibition in Austria by Guglielmo Castelli (b. 1987, Turin). The exhibition at Karlsplatz, curated by Sarah Crowe, comprises an entirely new body of work including painting, sculpture and a site-specific mural.

“I’m interested in the fact that the pictorial body, even if dismembered, remains a single body. Just like at the theatre or at the cinema, you have a scene before and a scene after, but what happens in that moment has a circumscribed temporality. […] That’s the part which interests me, the fact of having a representation which is really a frame that is a universe unto itself.” —Guglielmo Castelli

Trained in theatrical scenography, Castelli has developed a distinctive iconography that draws upon the history of painting, architecture and literature. His compositions are characterised by an earthy, nocturnal palette and a fluid, dreamlike quality that is often difficult to locate in space and time. Collectively, they suggest a fragmentary narrative that he has compared to filmmaking, where each still image contains “a universe unto itself.” 

Sweet Baby Motel presents seven paintings on canvas, each centred on a single figure who often appears weightless or enigmatically suspended in space. Limbs bisect compositions, imitating or morphing into scissors, both a recurrent motif and artistic tool within Castelli’s practice. Spotlit and costumed with harlequin prints, tights, puffed sleeves, gloves and ruffs, his subjects resemble the characters of a theatrical production, caught in a moment of reverie or quiet contemplation; smoking, at a crossroads or on a threshold. Others appear to be falling, flying or leaping through the air. In these densely layered compositions, objects, architectural details, textiles and textures provide moments of departure into semi-abstract areas of painting or pattern. Rows of buildings, garlands of flowers, doors, mirrors and curtains form elaborate borders framing a central drama that often consists in elemental bursts of fire, gusts of wind or balletic movement. Glimpses of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s The Hunters in the Snow (1565) or a patchwork of façades that recall the architecture of Friedensreich Hundertwasser add a Viennese accent to these compositions which are installed upon a 22-metre-long painted mural especially conceived for this exhibition. Inspired by the German fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, it unfolds in the style of a story book, while remaining conscious of the movement and gaze and the different perspectives available within the space. At the centre of the mural, where the feet of the two protagonists meet, Castelli depicts an upturned gingerbread house, questioning preconceived narratives around hierarchy and control. 

A series of ten figurative sculptures made from cut paper are presented on tables with steel plates and titled with the names of domestic rooms such as Kitchen and Bedroom (both 2025). Their bent, cut-paper subjects appear to straddle and slip off skewed household furniture. Castelli’s museological presentation underscores the scrutiny performed upon each object while also calling attention to their fragile materiality and sense of vulnerability.

Finally, the exhibition includes a selection of the artist’s notebooks, sketches and other preparatory materials, which inspired these works. Among these are studies for the characters, notes, excerpts of poetry and fabric remnants that provide insight to his artistic process. 

Guglielmo Castelli: Sweet Baby Motel is organised in cooperation with Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Turin and supported by PAC2025—Piano per l’Arte Contemporanea, promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture, and the Italian Cultural Institute in Vienna.

Publication
The exhibition is accompanied by a new publication featuring texts by Sarah Crowe and Lillian Davies, as well as an interview with the artist by Francesco Manacorda. Published by Lenz, Castello di Rivoli and Kunsthalle Wien, the publication will be available from the end of March.

Guglielmo Castelli (b. 1987, Turin) has held solo exhibitions at Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli-Turin (2025); Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice; Villa Medici, Rome (both 2024); Aspen Museum, Colorado (2023); Fondazione Coppola, Vicenza (2019) and Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2018). His work has been presented within significant surveys including Triennale Milano, Milan (2023) and the 17th Quadriennale di Roma, Rome (2020). Castelli lives and works in Turin. 

Kunsthalle Wien is financed by the Magistratsabteilung Kultur der Stadt Wien (MA 7). The artistic programme is also supported by the members of the Kunsthalle Wien Club. 

Also on view: Chalisée Naamani: Octogone (until April 6, 2026) / Richard Hawkins: Potentialities (until April 6, 2026) / Sophie von Hellermann: Get Your Head Around It (until March 29, 2026).