August 2026
Through his art, Heinz Cibulka (16.1.1943–14.8.2026) 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.
With great relish and impressive precision, he reprised his performance ‘Kompost’ as the central figure at the opening of the ‘Garten der Künstler’ exhibition in Tulln in 2018. In collaboration with Norbert Math (alien productions) as a performing live composer, with Luzia Nistler’s recitations of Cibulka’s textual recipes and litanies, and meticulously documented on film by Magdalena Frey, a thoroughly contemporary re-enactment of his original performance from 1978 in Vienna and Bologna (1979) was staged. As a collaborator and editor, I was responsible for the reissue of the publication produced in 1978, which, ‘for reasons that remain unclear, was never published by the editor at the time’ (H.C.). Equally central was the curatorial work on Heinz Cibulka’s artistic works beyond the realm of photography.
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!
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!
Wolfgang Giegler