exhibition
KEEP IN TOUCH!
Julius W. Chromecek, Mark Gilbert, Raw Matters im Hof (Tobias Brossmann & Naomi Dutzi, Kai Feldhammer, Julia Skrobisz), Gabi Seeleitner & Christa Stöffelbauer, Alireza Taghaboni, Mahnaz Yazdani
09/10 – 21/11/2026
curated by Negar Hakim, Christiane Kalantari
co-curated by Julius W. Chromecek, Azadeh Hariri & Necdet Tankut Cerit
Opening: Thursday, October 08, 2026, 7 pm
Architect’s talk with Alireza Taghboni & Mark Gilbert, moderated by Negar Hakim: Thursday, October 08, 2026, 5 pm
Open photo studio and performance workshop by Julius W. Chromecek, Gabi Seeleitner & Christa Stöffelbauer, Raw Matters im Hof (Tobias Brossmann & Naomi Dutzi, Kai Feldhammer, Julia Skrobisz): Friday, November 06, 2026, 4 – 7 pm
as part of the Vienna Art Week
Venue: philomena+ project room, Heinestraße 40, 1020 Vienna
„Gesten der Begegnung“ (Gestures of Encounter), performance: Gabi Seeleitner and Christa Stöffelbauer; photo: Julius W. Chromecek, 2026
Keep in Touch! explores architectures and spaces of encounter, asking how we can stay connected across generations, cultures, and different visions of life. Taking the social housing models of Red Vienna in the 1920-ies and their utopias of community-building and communal space as a starting point, the exhibition turns its attention to contemporary forms of living together in Vienna and Tehran. Here, architecture appears not only as a built structure but as a social actor: it can foster closeness and enable participation, yet it can also render boundaries and exclusions visible. Works in drawing, photography, film, and participatory practice examine gestures, thresholds, and hesitations to connect—among people of different generations and origins, as well as between private, public, and communal spaces. In a dialogue between artistic perspectives, archival and architectural research, and lived experience, questions of care, neighbourhood, and togetherness are revisited and renegotiated. Keep in Touch! invites us to rethink connections — between people, places, memories, and visions of the future.
artists & architects
JULIUS W. CHROMECEK
(*Vienna), initially completed an apprenticeship in photography and, as a psychologist, worked in fields including brain research. He subsequently attended the F. Kubelka School of Photography and completed training as a movement and dance educator. Today, he works as a visual artist, curator, juror, and gallery owner. His work—photographs and photobooks exhibited in numerous exhibitions in Austria and abroad—explores the relationship between people and their environment, as well as the many forms of human interaction. He is committed to artistic photography, i.a., as a member of the Künstlerhaus Association and the Kunstverein Baden. He also directs the f/43 Photography Gallery in Vienna.
(*1961 in Schenectady, New York) studied mechanical engineering at the University of Rochester before pursuing architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Since 2009, he has been a co-founder and partner of trans_city ZT GmbH in Vienna. His work focuses on architecture, urban planning, housing, and sustainable urban development. He has received grants and awards from the Graham Foundation, the City of Vienna, and the Vienna Business Agency’s departure programme. He has also published numerous texts on architecture and urbanism.
GABRIELE SEELEITNER
(*AT), is a choreographer, dancer and movement educator. She develops interdisciplinary and participatory dance performances that activate public space as a site of encounter, dialogue, and shared experience. Her artistic work is rooted in choreographic concepts drawn from contemporary dance and instant composition. By questioning established norms and patterns of behaviour, she invites audiences and participants to experience public space from new perspectives and to engage in unexpected forms of togetherness. She co-founded the KLAUS collective www.kollektivklaus.at. In 2025, she was awarded - together with performer Christa Stoeffelbauer- first prize by IG Kultur Wien.
CHRISTA STÖFFELBAUER
(*AT) is a choreographer, dancer, performer and dance facilitator based in Vienna. She produces dance performances in collaboration with artists from the fields of music, dance, theatre and fine arts. She studied contemporary stage dance at Sozo Visions in Motion in Kassel, completed a movement pedagogy degree (IGRC)® and a BA in social work at the FH Campus Vienna. In her artistic work she researches themes of being human and poetic approaches that seek the connection between the body, dance and socio-political issues. In 2025, she received with Gabi Seeleitner the main Price of the Independent Scene Vienna of IG Kultur Wien.
(*1977 in Tehran) is one of the leading figures in contemporary Iranian architecture. He studied architecture at the University of Gilan and later earned his PhD in Tehran. In 2010, he founded the internationally renowned architectural practice Nextoffice, whose work critically engages with Iran's architectural heritage, transforming its spatial principles into new architectural typologies and narratives. Based in Tehran, Taghaboni combines professional practice with architectural education and independent educational initiatives. His work has been exhibited and published internationally and has received numerous prestigious awards, including several Memar Awards and The Royal Academy of Arts of London.
MAHNAZ YAZDANI
(*1980 in Isfahan) lives and works in Iran. She is an award-winning artist with more than twenty years of professional experience and over sixty awards. She has built a diverse portfolio spanning cartoon, animation, and illustration. Several of her cartoons have circulated widely online and have had a significant social impact. Her work combines humor and imagination with pressing social and ecological themes. Through her creativity, adaptability, and collaborative spirit, Mahnaz achieves outstanding results and continually expands the boundaries of her artistic practice. She describes herself in a single sentence: "I am addicted to creating."
curators
NEGAR HAKIM
(*Isfahan), is an art and architectural historian and Senior Scientist at the Research Unit of Architectural History and Building Archaeology at TU Wien. Her research focuses on contemporary architecture and on cultural and scholarly exchange between Europe and the WANA region. Her further research interests include Islamic and interreligious sacred architecture, cultural heritage, and questions of identity and memory in transcultural contexts. She is a co-founder of the art and architecture association PhiloMENA+, serves on the editorial boards of the journals kunst und kirche and Tehran-based Memar Magazine, and has curated several exhibitions. Her publications include Contemporary Iranian Architects 1: New Space – Movement and Experience (2018) and Sacred Architecture Today: Mosques that Are Transforming the Urban Landscape, published by the Abdullatif Al Fozan Award for Mosque Architecture.
CHRISTIANE KALANTARI
(*Vienna), is an art historian, scientist, and director of the FWF project The Buddhist Monuments of Khartse at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Her research takes an interdisciplinary approach to the art and cultural history of South and Central Asia, focusing on the materiality of religion, concepts of community, representations of the feminine, early Austrian Tibet scholars, and the transfer of knowledge and cultural mobility between Asia and Europe (1600–1900). In 2022, she curated Cultures of Pleasure: Practices, Prohibition and Subversion in Afghanistan 1957–2022. Her most recent monograph is Early West Tibetan Buddhist Monuments (ÖAW Press, Vienna, 2021).
AZADEH HARIRI
(*Isfahan), is an architect, researcher, and conservator specialising in the restoration and revitalisation of historic buildings and urban structures. Her work centres on the preservation and scholarly study of historic architecture. Her book Qajar Houses of Isfahan, published in 2021, explores the residential architecture of the Qajar era and has received several awards. In 2023, she was awarded a research grant from the OeAD-GmbH – Agency for Education and Internationalisation, which enabled a research stay at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien). She has published numerous articles in academic journals, curated several exhibitions, and, alongside her research, has been involved in various art and cultural projects and events in Austria.
NECDET TANKUT CERIT
(*Ankara) is a Master’s student in Architecture at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien). His work lies at the intersection of architecture, architectural history, cultural heritage, and social participation. He works as a tutor at the Research Unit of Architectural History and Building Archaeology at TU Wien. Alongside his academic work, he is involved in interdisciplinary art and cultural projects. A further focus of his work is the development of a collective digital architecture platform that explores new forms of collaborative and transdisciplinary architectural production. He is also the author of an academic article published as part of the Abdullatif Al Fozan Award for Mosque Architecture.
Supported by
