Gallery profile

Founded: 1971

Galerie Ernst Hilger at Dorotheergasse 5 (first floor) in Vienna’s 1st district represents the works of artists such as Erró and Mel Ramos, along with exponents of Austrian modernism from the 1960s onward and the main exponents of the most important international art movements of the 20th century – from Pablo Picasso and Jean Dubuffet to Pop Art artists like Andy Warhol and Keith Haring through to Narrative Figuration (Jacques Monory). Ernst Hilger was the head of the FEAGA for several years and member of numerous art fair committees including Art Basel; he acted as the longest-serving president of the Austrian Gallery Association and was instrumental in establishing the present conception of the role of galleries as partners of museums, collectors and representatives of the state. The roster of represented artists reflects the long history of the gallery.

Hilger NEXT assembles those positions and provides artists from cutting-edge countries with a platform. The gallery’s labor has been rewarded through the participation of its artists in important international exhibitions and biennales over the past years: Anastasia KHOROSHILVA in a group show at Palais de Tokyo (F) and her Collateral Event at the Venice Biennale 2011 (I), Cameron PLATTER in an exhibition on South Africa at the MOMA (USA), ASGAR/GABRIEL solo show in the Mannheimer Kunstverein (D) and the Kunsthalle Brandts (DK), or Sarah RAHBAR, an Iranian-born artist living in New York whose work was part of elles@pompidou, Erik BINDER at the Biennale di Venezia 2001, Ivana FRANKE at the Biennale di Venezia 2007, Ivan MOUDOV at the Biennale di Venezia, Miha STRUKELJI at the Biennale di Venezia 2009, Anastasia KHOROSHILOVA at the Biennale Venice 2011, Ángel MARCOS, Simon VEGA, and Cameron PLATTER at the Biennale di Venezia 2013. HILGER NEXT enjoys the discovery and growth of the represented artists.
In 2022 we opened an additional pop-up gallery space in the city center, Ballgasse 1. There we showed mainly new, not yet established art until July 28, 2023.

In order to extend and strengthen the cooperation with international exhibition venues and museums the HilgerBROTKunsthalle was inaugurated in 2009. This space with its 800m² represents the gallery’s laboratory for curatorial projects and influences and supports all involved partners. Three guest apartments for visiting and working artists and curators have been instrumental in bringing our exhibition projects to other institutional locations, while also attracting international collectors who have visited and acquired works – among others Harald FALCKENBERG, Jorge PEREZ, the Photography Collection of the Qatar Museum Authority, Darga JAIS (Bali), Sutomo SUPRAJITO (Indonesia), the Collection NADOUR www.brotkunsthalle.com. Cooperations have included the Museum of Modern Art El Salvador, the Margulies Collection, the Mestna Galleria Ljubjana, the Museum of Modern Art Bukarest (Lara BOUBNOVA), the City Gallery Sofia, the MMoMA Moscow. All these institutions have shown exhibitions created with and presented at HilgerBROTKunsthalle.

From 1 June until 14 September 2013 the Street Art exhibition Cash, Cans & Candy showed works by over 40 Austrian and international artists from all continents on 800m² of exhibition space. Both pioneers like Robbie Conal as well as established street artists such as Retna and Shepard Fairey from Los Angeles, Faile from New York City, or Roa from Belgium took part in this large-scale exhibition venture. At the same time, the exhibition featured artists who until then had only been known within certain subcultures and just now are beginning to introduce their works to a larger audience. Curated by Katrin-Sophie Dworczak, the Street Art exhibition Cash, Cans & Candy was presented by Ernst Hilger simultaneously at both his exhibition venues, HilgerBROTKunsthalle and Gallery Hilger NEXT at Absberggasse 27, 1100 Vienna. This way, he once again put the former Anker bread factory – the new art cluster & cultural hub in town – in the public spotlight as a vibrant location for new art and cultural activity.

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