EXHIBITION
ORT – Ouriel Morgensztern



Ouriel Morgensztern
For its second intervention exhibition, the Heidi Horten Collection turns its focus to the Viennese photographer Ouriel Morgensztern, who engaged with the museum and its architecture in a highly personal way. His approach is deliberately subjective: instead of capturing the whole, Morgensztern concentrates on details that—through radical framing, extreme close-ups, and the interplay of light and shadow—gain an entirely new formal and aesthetic quality. He consistently manages to strike a balance: the architecture of the building is both present and absent in his photographs. The same holds true for the visitors and the art for which the museum was created. Though physically absent, they remain constantly evoked.
21 October 2025 to 12 April 2026
This duality of presence and absence runs through Morgensztern’s artistic practice. It is also central to one of his most recent projects, in which he retraces the Viennese film locations of the classic The Third Man. Its central figure, Harry Lime, believed to be dead, is absent for much of the film, yet still drives the narrative—just as the museum building itself is simultaneously present and absent in Morgensztern’s work.