Jakob Lena Knebl

Biography

Born 1970 in Baden
Lives and works in Vienna

Jakob Lena Knebl studied Fashion Design at the University of Applied Arts Vienna under the guidance of Raf Simons and Textual Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Heimo Zobernig. In 2003, she participated in the Whitney Independent Study Program in New York. Since 2021, Knebl has been a professor of Transmedia Art at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. In addition, she works as an artist-curator.

Awards and Grants

2026
Oskar Kokoschka Prize, Vienna

2025
Klocker Art Prize, Hall in Tirol

2017
Outstanding Artist Award – Visual Arts, Baden

2016
Lower Austrian Culture Prize – Recognition Award in Visual Arts, Lower Austria

2013
Scholarship as part of the Outstanding Artist Award – Visual Arts, Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture, Austria

2010
H13 Performance Prize, Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Vienna

2009
Award as part of the Cultural Poster Prize for OPEN UP Kommunikation, Tanzquartier Wien, Vienna

2007
Austrian State Scholarship for Artistic Photography

2003
Selfware. Politics of Identity, Recognition Award, Graz

Solo Exhibitions

2026
MAH Genf, Geneva (upcoming)
Galerie Loevenbruck, Paris (upcoming)
Sommerfrische, Marmorschlössel, Bad Ischl (upcoming)

2025
Sag’ mir, wo die Blumen sind (with Ashley Hans Scheirl), Klocker Museum, Hall in Tirol
La Primavera, MEYER*KAINER, Vienna

2024
I have to collect myself first, Jakob Lena Knebl with Markus Pires Mata, Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt
Passage (with Ashley Hans Scheirl), Deichtorhallen-Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg

2023
Doppelganger! (with Ashley Hans Scheirl), Palais de Tokyo, Paris
8 Zeichnungen, Georg Kargl BOX, Vienna

2022
Invitation of the Soft Machine and Her Angry Body Parts (with Ashley Hans Scheirl), Austrian Pavilion, 59th Venice Biennale, Venice
Soft Machine, Phileas, Vienna

2021
Walk on the Water, MAH – Musée d´art et d´histoire, Geneva

2020
Seasonal Greetings, Jakob Lena Knebl & Ashley Hans Scheirl, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz
Jakob Lena Knebl: Frau 49 Jahre alt, LENTOS Kunstmuseum, Linz
Ruth Anne, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Wir sind Henkel, Tanzquartier, Vienna

2019
I am he as you are he as you are me. And we are all together, Belmacz, London
Come together, right now. Over me., Galerie Loevenbruck, Paris
!, with Hans Ashley Scheirl, Intervention, Wiener Rathaus, Vienna

2018  
Ma Poupée, Georg Kargl PERMANENT, Vienna

2017
OH…, Jakob Lena Knebl and the mumok Collection, mumok, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig,  Vienna
OH … JA!, one day exhibition/installation/performance, mumok, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna

2014
Look at me…(so beautiful, so fun), Center of Contemporary Art, Torun
There Are More Things, Pavillion der Tiroler Künstlerschaft, Innsbruck
Lebe den Tag, Kunst am Bau, Landespflegeheim Baden, Baden
Schwule Sau, KÖR, Vienna

2013
An Eye on a Disposition of a Cloud, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg

2012
Female Takeover, Ve.Sch, Vienna

2010
Projects and Assignments, Saprophyt, Vienna
Alte Sachen, in Kooperation mit Markus Hausleitner und Heimo Zobernig,
 Galerie Christian Nagel, Berlin
Hard To Sell, Good To Have, Palais Sturany, Vienna
Becoming, H13 2010, Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Vienna

2009
OPEN UP Kommunikation, Tanzquartier Wien, Vienna
Mode Francaise, in Kooperation mit Chris Haring, Les Subsistances, Lyon; Tanzquartier Wien, Vienna;    Impulstanz Festival, Vienna and Sommerszene, Salzburg

 

Group Exhibitions (selected)

2026
Lebt und arbeitet in Wien, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (upcoming)

2025
Thinking Through Weibel, Beginnings, Diversions, Elsewheres, Presented by The Weibel Institute for Digital Cultures, Angewandte Interdisciplinary Lab, Otto Wagner-Postsparkasse, Vienna
Kunst & LiebeZeitgenössische Künstlerpaare im Miteinander und Gegenüber, Schloss Achberg, Ravensburg
Humor and Trauma, MEYER*KAINER, Vienna
I hit you with a flower, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Schiedam

2024
PECHE POP Tracing Dagobert Peche in the 21st Century, MAK, Vienna
I hit you with a flower, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Schiedam
Elective Affinities, Galerie Loevenbruck, Paris

2023
Ridiculously Yours! Arts Akwardness and Enthusiasm, Halle für Kunst Steiermark, Graz
Here and Now II – Vienna Sculpture, Neuer Kunstverein Wien, Vienna
On STAGE – All the Art World´s a Stage, mumok, Vienna
Re-Inventing Piet. Mondrian and the Consequences, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg & Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen
Precious, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna

2022
Little Precious Things, Georg Kargl BOX, Vienna
Ridiculously Yours! Arts Akwardness and Enthusiasm, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Bonn
How Soon is Now?, Structura Gallery, Sofia
Empowerment, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg
the other world, the world of the teapot. tenderness, a model, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover
Rendezvous mit der Sammlung. Kunst von 1960 bis heute, Landesgalerie Niederoesterreich, Krems

2021
how lovecraft saved the world, Universitätsgalerie der Angewandten im Heiligenkreuzerhof, Vienna
Avant-Garde and the Contemporary The Belvedere Collection from Lassnig to Knebl, Belvedere 21, Vienna
An Incomplete & Unreliable Guide to Social Media War Room, Curated by Valentinas Klimašauskas, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
The mumok Collection in Change, mumok, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna

2020
Would You Be Available…, Georg Kargl Permanent, Vienna

2019
Und Schwester Makart geht auf Wanderschaft, Künstlerhaus, Vienna
Mode Momente. Fotografinnen im Fokus, Landesgalerie Linz, Linz
55 Dates. Highlights from the mumok Collection, mumok, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna
Grand Hotel Abyss, steirischer herbst ’19, Graz
La Poupée, le Doigt d´Or et les Dents: Fou de Rage, with Ashley Hans Scheirl,
Where Water Comes Together with Other Water, 15th Lyon Bienniale of Contemporary Art, Lyon
Performance by Appointment, Georg Kargl Fine Arts

2018
100 Jahre Frauenwahlrecht, ein Plakat- und Videoprojekt, KÖR, Vienna
Fashion Drive, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich

2017
Alpenglühen – 100 years of Ettore Sottsass Jr., Belmacz, London
The Language of Things Material Hi/Stories from the Collection, 21er Haus, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belvedere, Vienna

2016
Mapping the Body. The Body in Contemporary Life, Taxispalais, Innsbruck

2015
Gender jako dekomerowy performance, Galeria Fotografii pf, Poznan
Come 2 daddy, Performance, „Straight to hell“ Festival, Vienna

2014
Im Frühling, Darling., Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg
Haydn Explosiv, Ein Volcks Lied für alle, Schloss Esterházy, Eisenstadt
Remembering Tomorrow, Kunstverein Baden, Baden
Sculpture me, Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Vienna

2013
Faceless, Freiraum, Vienna
Vienna Calling, HDLU Mestrovic-Pavillon, Zagreb
Erfinde dich selbst, Kunstverein Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg
The only performances that make it all the way, Künstlerhaus Graz, Graz

2012
Reflecting Fashion, mumok, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna
Beauty Contest, MUSA, Vienna
Reality Manifestos, or Can Dialectics Break Bricks?, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna
Set Staged Envisioned, 308at156 Project Artspace, New York
Vanitas, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
Bossing Images, in Kooperation mit Ashley Hans Scheirl und Tim Stüttgen, nGbK, Berlin
home/work/dress, Passerelle – Centre d’art contemporain, Brest
Camp/Anticamp, HAU 2, Berlin and Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt
PANik5 – Performance als Augenblick, Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Vienna
trans*_homo, Schwules Museum, Berlin

2011
Beauty Contest, Austrian Cultural Forum, New York,
Sense and Sensibilities, Kunstverein Salzburg, Salzburg
Transgression, Beers.Lambert Contemporary, London
Wiener Glut, KIT-Kunst im Tunnel, Dusseldorf
What’s the Measure?, Glockengasse 9, Vienna

2010
Ich Tier! (Du Mensch), Perla Moda + Dienstgebäude, Zurich