August 2026

Through his art, Heinz Cibulka managed to imbue his subjects with such profound empathy that they resonated on a personal level whilst remaining accessible to a wider audience. Cibulka was able to breathe a photographic spirit into a region, one that both depicted and questioned the obvious, and above all brought the hidden to light (for example: ‘Im Pechwald’, 1987, for the exhibition at the daadgalerie Berlin, 1986).

When looking at his images, the act of making things visible seems entirely natural in the literal sense. Through his tableaux (‘visual poems’), he was able to push the sensory and sensual to their limits. He never stylised his photographic material or his process of taking photographs into a fetish. To see only that which evokes emotion, one needs no fine paper, no technical discourse and not many words. The everyday, the things at hand, are sufficient.

What he took in hand did not remain ordinary. These were often found objects that he reshaped, assembling them into artistic objects, material paintings and sculptures that breathe in and out the refined spirit of his empathy. The narrative threads of his performances are also important in his artistic practice.

When looking at his pictures, the act of making things visible seems entirely natural in the literal sense.

Mit großem Genuss und beeindruckender Präzision hat er als Leitfigur seine Performance „Kompost“ zur Eröffnung der Ausstellung „Garten der Künstler“ 2018 in Tulln wiederaufgeführt. Im Ensemble mit Norbert Math (alien productions) als performender Live-Komponist, mit Luzia Nistlers Rezitationen von Cibulkas Textrezepten und Litaneien und filmisch fein dokumentiert von Magdalena Frey kam ein mehr als zeitgemäßes Reenactment seiner Originalperformance von 1978 in Wien und Bologna (1979) zur Aufführung. Als Komplize und Herausgeber konnte ich die Neuauflage der 1978 produzierten und „aus nicht geklärten Gründen vom damaligen Herausgeber nie veröffentlichte Publikation“ (H.C.) verantworten. Ebenso verbunden hat die kuratorische Arbeit zu Heinz Cibulkas künstlerischen Werken abseits der Fotografie.

There is much that takes shape from memory for which we owe Heinz Cibulka a debt of gratitude and for which he is rightly honoured. – Thank you, dear Heinz!