Edmund de Waal

Since 2012, the Kunsthistorisches Museum has organised exhibitions each year inside the Theseus Temple, in the heart of Vienna’s Volksgarten park. The Temple was built between 1819 and 1823 by court architect Peter von Nobile to be the home for a single work of then-contemporary art: Antonio Canova's white marble masterpiece Theseus Slaying the Centaur. For almost seventy years this artwork stood alone inside the building, until in 1891 it was moved to the newly-completed Kunsthistorisches Museum where it still stands today.

The new series of exhibitions has returned the temple to its original purpose: to house remarkable artworks by contemporary artists, one at a time.

In 2014 the British ceramicist and writer Edmund de Waal will present his new work Lichtzwang at the Temple. It is de Waal’s first exhibition in Austria.

Biography Edmund de Waal

Edmund de Waal was born in 1964. Following his undergraduate studies at Cambridge University, he studied ceramics in both England and Japan. He is best known for his large scale installations, which have been exhibited in museums and galleries across the world, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Tate Britain, London; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire; and the National Museum of Wales. De Waal has also received international recognition for his writing, including his recent award-winning book, The Hare with Amber Eyes, which traces his family history through Paris, Odessa, Vienna, Japan and England.