Studio Grant holder in Gothenburg 1 March – 31 May 2025

Uwe Bressnik was born in the south of Austria on the border with Italy and Slovenia and has been living and working mainly in Vienna since his studies there at the University of Applied Arts. He follows a transmedia approach and works on constantly updating the conventional artistic genres of graphics, painting and objects by reinterpreting them by means of the visual achievements of adjacent cultural fields, such as music, media, youth culture, sport or literature.

The spectrum of his artistic activities is correspondingly diverse: it ranges from drawing, (print)graphics, photography, video, painting, (sound)object and installation to expansive spatial design and performance. In 2000, Bressnik’s focus on combining visual art and music also led him to perform as an improviser in several band-like and live music formats.

Photo: Uwe Bressnik

BRESSNIK’S 1210 + LIVE RECORD, Phono-Museum Wien, 2013.

During his IASPIS residency Uwe Bressnik will continue his work on several current working groups: Under the label “Soul Source Records” he releases his own records and panel paintings from their sound grooves at the interface of visual art and sound art. The sound grooves of the black vinyl also appear as clouds of lines in the “Waves & Vibes” series: found images, worked on with acrylic paint and silverpoint,. These images ”find him” by chance, popping up in waste-paper collections as well as in art historical tomes, old picture frames, newspapers or magazines. They are used as well for his “Ökografien (Ecographic Images)”, 2nd hand pictures, processed with plant parts. The flowers and stems Uwe Bressnik collects at home or on his travels, they are dried and pressed between the pages of books. Usually it’s the shape or the verve of a plant part that shows him the direction of the final composition; it’s a bit like drawing (or painting) with plants.

Uwe Bressnik received his diploma with distinction from the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Recent exhibitions: URBAN SILENCE As part of the 48 Stunden Neukölln art festival Berlin (2024); OÖ AIR – THE EXHIBITION (2024), OK Center for Contemporary Art, Linz; CAGE RECORDS Special exhibition (Personal Show) as part of the 16th Klangwechsel at the John Cage Project Halberstadt and the permanent exhibition ROOM FOR CAGE, Cage Haus Halberstadt (D) 2024; EXTENDED VERSION -The Music Before And Behind The Objects, KGLU/Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Koroška, Slovenj Gradec/SLOV (2023); RÄSONANZ (personal show), Austrian Cultural Forum Budapest (HU) 2023; bsRGB / bressniksRedYellowBlue Color Space (spacial installation/personal Show) Schauraum Angewandte – Museumsquartier Vienna (2022); “THE SOUND OF SILENCE – Soul Source Records, Arrangements, Waves & Vibes” Catalog-Album-Presentation of the updated and expanded SPECIAL ENGLISH EDITION and ÉDITION SPÉCIALE EN FRANÇAIS at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (2022).