Press Universalmuseum Joanneum

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Here you will find text and image material on current and past exhibitions, various projects and all the sites and museums of the Universalmuseum Joanneum.

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Archive

18.02.2026

Cemra. Ziamliačka

Cemra. Ziamliačka

Press information

Ziamliačka – Belarusian for "a woman who comes from the same soil" – is Cemra's latest project, performance, installation and labour of love all at once. It began with the illegal transport of 225 kg of Belarusian soil to Poland, where its scent was extracted in order to preserve the memory of an unreachable homeland in the form of an olfactory archive. Smells are powerful memory triggers because they are directly connected to the limbic system. This enables them to instantly conjure up seemingly forgotten memories. The process of extracting the scent took Cemra several months and involved several stages. Layers of soil on Vaseline were changed three times every ten days, then covered with alcohol for another ten days and left to evaporate for 24 hours. Fat and ethanol preserved the scent of what had been taken from the artist. Thus, the extract in the installation remains visible in a hand-blown flacon but not directly smellable. The soil that Cemra presents in her installation in the Needle of Kunsthaus Graz, piled in a minimalist glass cube, is more than just matter; it is a political body that crosses borders, preserves a sense of home and refuses erasure by turning private loss into a shared archive for all exiles. At the same time, it represents the energy that Cemra lost during her years in exile, energy that must be replenished. "True power flows not only from those who stand beside you, but from the ground beneath your feet." At the opening of her exhibition at Kunsthaus Graz, Cemra closes the circle that began with an act of activism with a poetic, melancholic reinterpretation of a Belarussion lullaby.

10.12.2025

Fast Forward! Carinthia & Styria

Fast Forward! Carinthia & Styria

Press release

03.12.2025

Climate Change in Styria

Climate Change in Styria

Press release

26.11.2025

Promotion Prize of the Province of Styria for Contemporary Visual Art & Art Space Styria

Promotion Prize of the Province of Styria for Contemporary Visual Art & Art Space Styria

Press release

Styrian participants in the studio programmes and foreign scholarships present their work from the 2023/24 scholarship period.

24.11.2025

The Power of (Un-)Certainty

The Power of (Un-)Certainty

Press release

06.11.2025

Emilija Škarnulytė

Emilija Škarnulytė

Press release

05.11.2025

Camuflajes. Zechner & Serrano

Camuflajes. Zechner & Serrano

Press release

The Camuflajes project is a dedicated collaboration between a visual artist and a writer.

17.09.2025

Unseen Futures to Come. Fall

Unseen Futures to Come. Fall

Press release

How do we live in these times when we are confronted with apocalyptic scenarios ranging from ecological crisis to the threat of mass destruction daily, and how do we make sense of it?

27.06.2025

Romans on the Road. Travel Routes of Roman Pottery

Romans on the Road. Travel Routes of Roman Pottery

Press information

Window into the Roman Era: World-travelled Roman Ceramics from Flavia Solva

26.06.2025

Milica Tomić. On Love Afterwards

Milica Tomić. On Love Afterwards

Press release

The survey exhibition offers insight into the practice of artist Milica Tomić.

12.06.2025

Alpine Adriatic region Pavilion in Ljubljana

Alpine Adriatic region Pavilion in Ljubljana

Press release

11.06.2025

From Up in the Valley. Simon Baptist - Archive Franz Göttfried

From Up in the Valley. Simon Baptist - Archive Franz Göttfried

Press release

07.05.2025

FLiP at CoSA

FLiP at CoSA

Press release

25.04.2025

SHOWING STYRIA 2025

SHOWING STYRIA 2025

Press conference at Schloss Eggenberg

Join us in celebrating the 400th anniversary of Schloss Eggenberg. The major anniversary exhibition combines unique works of art and princely rooms with new media and music.

10.04.2025

Gerhard Rühm

Gerhard Rühm

Press release

Gerhard Rühm celebrates his 95th birthday in 2025.

02.04.2025

But there are unspeakable things – The painter Wolfgang Hollegha

But there are unspeakable things – The painter Wolfgang Hollegha

Press release

When Wolfgang Hollegha came to New York in 1959 at the invitation of Clement Greenberg, the first storms of ‘Abstract Expressionism’, which was equated in Europe with ‘Art Informel’, were ebbing away.

30.03.2025

Changing Childhood. From the Straw Doll to the Smartphone

Changing Childhood. From the Straw Doll to the Smartphone

Press information

The special exhibition at the Rosegger Museum invites visitors to take a journey through time.

28.03. - 29.03.2025

Diagonale '25: Simona Obholzer

Diagonale '25: Simona Obholzer

Press information

In 2025 the winner of the ‘Innovative Cinema’ award - Simona Obholzer - is once again preparing the trailer for the Diagonale ʼ25 as well as an exhibition at Kunsthaus Graz. 

26.03.2025

Freedom Was an Episode (tbc)

Freedom Was an Episode (tbc)

Press release

With Freedom Was an Episode (tbc), the BRUSEUM is taking stock of current surveillance and the restriction of freedom 

21.03.2025

Maruša​ Sagadin. Speak More Truth, Eat More Fruit

Maruša​ Sagadin. Speak More Truth, Eat More Fruit

Press release

Maruša Sagadin's site-specific sculptural intervention is both an invitation and a reference to the artist's roots, which combine elements of street art, pop, comic, and hip-hop culture. The work breaks with established codes with relish and sensitively exposes social mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion in urban space.

BLOOM 2026

In 2026, the Universalmuseum Joanneum and Kunsthaus Graz are dedicating a joint annual theme to BLOOM. Between spring and autumn, BLOOM invites visitors to explore the flower and its close relationship with humankind.

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Universalmuseum Joanneum

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The press team will be happy to answer any questions by e-mail or telephone:

Daniela Teuschler

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Press

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Press

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