07/07/2026
Congratulations to Tolia Astakishvili for her solo show ‘Figure of the Child’ at mumok in Vienna which includes works produced for ‘to love and devour’ at the Foundation in Venice.
In keeping with a recurring motif in the work of artist Tolia Astakhishvili, the artist’s first solo museum exhibition will proceed from the concept of the “figure of the child.” In this context, the child embodies both a high degree of intellectual and creative autonomy and a profound dependence on others. This concept becomes an exercise in imagination, exploring the possibilities and limits of empathy, grounded in the fact that we were all children once. In relation to spatial environments, scale, and precariousness, the child represents a state of being in which invisibility is often experienced with great immediacy and intensity. Accordingly, Tolia Astakhishvili focuses on the experience of art itself, extending it to movement and touch and breaking with the conventions of museum presentation. The notion of the “first encounter,” as children experience it when initially perceiving a phenomenon, serves here as a key to a new kind of experience.
With works by Vito Acconci, Zurab Astakhishvili, Aurel, Ştefan Bertalan, Karl Blossfeldt, Kaucyila Brooke, Veronica Brovall, Günter Brus, Elene Chantladze, James Ensor, Nan Goldin, Yaryna Fedoriv, Irma Gubeladze, Ull Hohn, Joe Jones, Paul Joostens, Louise Lawler, Charlotte Moorman & Nam June Paik, Dylan Peirce, Pablo Picasso, Charlotte Posenenske, Alexandra Ranner, James Richards, Irena Rosc, Medardo Rosso, Dieter Roth, Maka Sanadze, Stefan Wewerka, Heimo Zobernig.
Curated by Fatima Hellberg and Manuela Ammer
On view until 1 November 2026.
Tolia Astakishvili’s work is held in the Nicoletta Fiorucci Collection. In 2025 the artist inaugurated our new space in Venice with ‘to love and devour’ curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist.
Photos: olia Astakishvili Studio
