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Amöbe (Rückblick voraus)

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Exhibition
University Library
Schillerplatz 3
1010 Vienna
University Library (Reading room, M7)

A pictorial-sculptural intervention and exhibition on decoding perception by Imre Nagy and Jörg Reissner, as part of the Academy Library‘s Wer A.. sagt series.

Amöbe (Rückblick voraus) [Amoeba (Review Ahead)]

The collaborative practice of Imre Nagy and Jörg Reissner intertwines artistic dialogue, exhibitions, books, and writing.

Together, they conceived exhibitions for a former historic prison and a stairwell serving as an entrance hall as part of a book fair. Each location led them to question the contextualization of their own artistic reflections. Spaces as templates that reveal orders and localizations. The art book, published in 2024 by Verlag für moderne Kunst, serves both as a document and a continuation of this practice—a key that mediates between the various media and situations.

With this exhibition in the Academy’s Library, the relation between artwork, book, and institution shifts once again. The pictorial-sculptural intervention engages with the library’s infrastructure—as a place of reading and mediation, as the architecture of archiving, and as a system of diverse orders. This creates layers in which images, objects, architecture, and text overlap.

Through meticulous illumination, the focus is placed on transitions, interstices, and moments of interpenetration. Tectonic shifts alter familiar relationships, giving rise to new interpretations.

The exhibition itself becomes a form of reading. How do we read and decipher codes and images in a setting that proves to be both a public and, at the same time, a highly intimate space? What emerges when the frameworks of our perception shift?

Text: Nagy/Reissner 2026

Imre Nagy. Born in Budapest. Lives and works in St. Andrä-Wördern and Vienna. 2006–2012: Studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna under Heimo Zobernig in the field of contextual sculpture.
www.imrenagy.com

Jörg Reissner. Born in Schlanders, Italy. Lives and works in Vienna. 2005–2010: Studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna under Erwin Bohatsch in the field of abstract painting.
www.joergreissner.com

Imre Nagy, Jörg Reissner  
With contributions by Victoria Dejaco, Maximilian Pellizzari
In Contro (Solo)
152 pages, 80 color illustrations, German/English/Italian, ISBN: 978-3-99153-126-5
Vienna: Verlag für moderne Kunst, 2024
www.vfmk.org/products/imre-nagy-and-jorg-reissner-in-contro-solo

www.facebook.com/akademiebibliothek

www.imrenagy.com
www.joergreissner.com

Opening hours: Mon, Tue, Wed 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Fri 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Closed: 7–8 Dec 2026 (Immaculate Conception)
18 Dec 2026–6 Jan 2027 (Winter Break)  
Opening hours Rundgang 2027:
Thu, 21 Jan, 4–8 p.m., Fri, 22 Jan, 10 a.m.–8 p.m.
Admission free

  • Opening: Amöbe (Rückblick voraus)

    Opening of an exhibition by Imre Nagy and Jörg Reissner on decoding perception, as part of the Academy Library‘s Wer A.. sagt series.

    Exhibition Opening

    Schillerplatz/ University Library (Reading room, M7)

    University Library

    The color illustration in landscape format shows the yellow book cover of “Amöbe (Rückblick voraus)” [Amoeba (Review Ahead)] on the left half. On the right, we find an image of a small sculpture against a colored background.