Millstatt Abbey - a place that breathes history and lives in the present. Between baroque tranquillity and artistic tension, it has become a pulsating hub of contemporary art in Upper Carinthia. Andrea K. Schlehwein, choreographer, dance networker and curator, and Eleonore Schäfer, gallery owner with an international eye and a precise feel for the visual power of the present, have played a major role in this. Together they run the "schäfer+schlehwein" gallery, which has been setting standards in the interplay of space, movement and image for years with its clearly curated projects.
With the current exhibition "TRIPTYCHA", the more than 250 square meter ART SPACE in the historic Millstatt Abbey opens up to a special artistic experimental arrangement. Works by Achim Freyer, Ha Haengeun, Alexandra Huber, Robert Kabas, Tim van den Oudenhoven, Nae Zerka and other international artists are presented in threefold constellations - triads of form, color and meaning. Each of these groups of three is an open space for thought, a visual experiment on proximity, strangeness and the fragile balance in between.
Nae Zerka, Die stille Ahnung vom Verschwinden I, 2025, soft pastel, giclee print on fine art paper, Galerie schäfer+schlehwein, 2025
The exhibition concept revisits the triptych as a form and idea. Originally created as a 15th century altarpiece, here it becomes a contemporary frame of thought: The three works do not form a hierarchical unit, but rather a field of tension. "Non-boundaries" are created between the works, flowing transitions in which the viewer spins the invisible thread that connects the works with one another. The resulting dialogs are quiet, intellectual and highly topical.
In an age in which neighborhood is no longer chosen, but lived - whether physically in urban space or digitally on the global web - "TRIPTYCHA" reflects the new reality of coexistence. The juxtaposition of the works becomes a metaphor for the simultaneity of difference and commonality. Painting, drawing, object and photography meet at eye level, challenge each other and intertwine in the visitor's gaze.
Ha Haengeun, Inner Cosmos, 2025, Galerie schäfer+schlehwein, 2025
What remains is a quiet amazement at the energy that arises from the encounter. Each work of art retains its independence - and yet it changes as soon as it enters into a relationship. In this way, the space itself becomes a resonating body in which art and perception merge.
With "TRIPTYCHA", the "schäfer+schlehwein" gallery has once again succeeded in creating an exhibition that not only shows, but also thinks - that touches the senses and challenges intellectually. A poetic statement about the power of the in-between, about seeing as a creative act and about art as a place of lived polyphony.
TRIPTYCHA
October 2 to November 15, 2025
Gallery Gallery "schäfer+schlehwein" in the ART SPACE Stift Millstatt
Open: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 3-6 pm
www.schaefer-schlehwein.com
Alexandra Huber, learning house, 2015, MT wood, folding picture open, Galerie schäfer+schlehwein, 2025
