viennacontemporary 2024

Laura Põld’s practice combines interdisciplinary and traditional craft skills with sculpture through which she examines posthuman and more-than-human ways of being, caring, community building and sheltering. Sabīne Vernere is known for her expressive Indian ink paintings depicting anthropomorphic, gender-fluid beings. Her works embody a strong presence of beauty, sensuality and emotion as well as disturbance and violence, which correlates with the complexities of the dynamics between humans and nature.

Both artists share an interest in landscape as a way to investigate and contemplate the world they inhabit. For Põld, landscape is an act of seeing, while for Vernere, it is more an expression of emotional experiences. When joined together in one showroom, their fantastical world-building skills enrich and expand each other’s, creating a presentation of a complex, entangled state of existence.
Laura Põld and Sabīne Vernere represent a new, strong generation of women artists from the Baltic States who use their professional skills, commitment to research, historical identity and strong connections to nature and landscape to create sensitive multilayered works. They tackle ideas stemming from ecofeminism and postsocialist theory as well as land and bodily identity.

viennacontemporary is Austria’s leading fair for contemporary art and is known for its unique focus on the emerging scenes of Central and Eastern Europe, which this year will be presented by gathering established galleries, exciting newcomers and curated special exhibitions in the spacious Halle D of Messe Wien. This is the second time Kogo Gallery will participate in the viennacontemporary art fair. Last year, Kogo showcased works by Laura Põld in the Zone 1 section curated by Francesca Gavin.