Jakob Lena Knebl
Female, 49 years old

Jakob Lena Knebl stages an environment that makes the Lentos Collection appear in a new light. Appealing powerfully to the sense, the artist presents two rooms in the Lentos basement as bipolar opposites, contrasting a colourful side with a dark one. By combining her own works with a curatorial approach marked by a distinctly artistic touch, Knebl achieves a politically grounded reassessment of the collection. She undercuts the classical canon of received presentation wisdom to experiment with ​“democratic” forms. The way she playfully deploys different sets of tactics makes for an unusual, low-level-threshold accessibility that conveys a serious message with a tongue-in-cheek lightness.

Jakob Lena Knebl lives in Vienna and works as a Senior Artist at the Academy of Fine Arts. Recently she has concentrated on works in public space and has taken part in a series of international exhibitions, such as the Lyon Biennale 2019.