Karin Sander: Elevated to a pedestal

Karin Sander (*1957), who lives in Berlin and Zurich, is one of the most significant artists of her generation. She works primarily in site-specific contexts and has exhibited her works at venues including the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the Venice Biennale. Sander engages with existing situations and explores their contexts. She highlights specific issues and invites viewers to engage with and participate in the specific themes. The seemingly familiar is reimagined, becoming the starting point for a process of exploration. Sander engages with nearly all media fields of contemporary art—thus, her works in public spaces emerge in relation to the conditions and constraints of the existing environment.

To mark the 25th anniversary of the Museumsquartier, Sander has developed an initiative that focuses on the socio-cultural dimension of the entire complex. Starting from a very broad concept of art—ranging from architecture and dance to design, fashion, and the visual arts—a diverse array of artists and practitioners at the MQ formulate a comprehensive view of contemporary cultural production based on diversity and multifaceted richness. Thanks to this open definition of culture, the Museumsquartier appeals to a very broad audience and has become a popular destination.

This diversity also forms the basis of Karin Sander’s MQ project. The artist invites all current and former participants in the MQ to come together in a work of art that, in a sense, unites the “MQ generation”: the staff and visitors of the institutions, but also the casual passersby who view the MQ as a public space.

Karin Sander literally elevates all these people—the MQ Generation—onto a pedestal like a living sculpture, both as an act of appreciation and as an art performance. On June 20, 2026, several hundred wooden blocks will be distributed in the courtyard of the Museumsquartier. The blocks symbolically mark out the public space in the courtyard and invite people to stand on the wooden blocks for a few minutes and balance there. The event, which begins at 11:00 a.m. (tbc), aims to involve as many people as possible who have a connection to the Museumsquartier: by climbing onto these symbolic pedestals together, they unite for a moment to form a collective whole.

This one-time performance in the courtyard of the Museumsquartier will be documented through photography. As a token of appreciation for their participation, all participants will receive a photograph signed by the artist.

The project was commissioned by the Museumsquartier and is being organized by Swiss curator Christoph Doswald.