Gabriele Rothemann, Install Shot, Depot, 2018, Curtesy of the Artist and City Galerie Wien
Gabriele Rothemann, Hab und Gut 8, 2012, Curtesy of the Artist and City Galerie Wien
Helena Huneke, Untitled (Referenz), year unknown (presumably 2001), Curtesy of City Galerie Wien
Helena Huneke, Title Unknown (der sich labende), year unknown (presumably 2001), Curtesy of City Galerie Wien
For the 2026 edition of Liste, City presents two German artists of the same generation whose lives and practices took very different paths. Both address the experience of being a woman in art while engaging with similar themes in distinct ways. Gabriele Rothemann works with photography, though not as a fixed intention, while Helena Huneke approaches sculpture through gesture, idea, and attitude. Rothemann’s early series Haushaltshandgriffe (1984), created during her studies, shows ten photographs of small domestic mishaps—moments where everyday tasks go wrong. Huneke presents sculptures and assemblages made from familiar household objects that carry an unsettling, almost eerie presence. Their shared focus on everyday materials and situations reflects a female struggle approached through very different artistic languages.
Gabriele Rothemann (b. 1960) is a German artist based in Vienna whose practice employs photography as a conceptual medium through which artistic ideas are articulated. Based in Vienna, her research-driven practice draws on image archives to explore memory, perception, and visual culture, often addressing themes of nature, time, and transformation.
Helena Huneke (1967–2012) was a German artist whose interdisciplinary practice moved between industrial design, installation, performance, and writing. Educated at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg, she developed a materially sensitive and conceptually precise approach. Associated with the Hamburg collective Akademie Isotrop, her work explored everyday objects, spatial relations, and fragile forms.