With the exhibition Animalia. On Animals and Humans, the Heidi Horten Collection explores the complex relationship between humans and animals. The term Animalia, borrowed from biology, serves as the guiding principle for a critical examination of how humans treat animals, reflected in over 100 works of art from the 20th and 21st centuries.
Derived from anima, the Latin word for breath or soul, the term Animalia, coined by naturalist Carl von Linné (1707–1778), encompasses both humans and animals. In contrast to this model of equality, humans' treatment of animals is characterized by a clear hierarchy.
As the supposed “pinnacle of evolution,” as beings of reason that rise above the animal world, humans assign ambivalent roles to animals. Artistic representations that make these different attributions visible say a lot about humans themselves, allowing conclusions to be drawn about their self-image and methods of projection. Thus, humans are already present in every image of animals—even when they are not part of the representation.

The exhibition explores the question of which social and historical structures are inscribed in representations of animals. They range from the idea of “man's best friend” to the humanization and objectification of animals to their exploitation. At the same time, the exhibition allows us to view ANIMALIA as a thought experiment—beyond a shared biological category—as a principle of a shared model of life that considers animals as fellow creatures and co-actors.

Gottfried Bechtold (*1947) is considered one of the defining figures of Austrian contemporary art. Since the late 1960s, he has developed a rigorously conceptual, cross-media practice encompassing sculpture, photography, drawing, text, and performative interventions in public space. His work is characterized by a precise analysis of social symbols and a sustained inquiry into perception, attribution of value, and the very conditions of artistic production.

Bechtold gained international recognition in particular for his engagement with the automobile as a cultural, economic, and ideological object. Since the 1970s, he has explored the car as a projection surface for beliefs in progress, promises of mobility, notions of status, and ideas of individual freedom.

The Concrete Porsche is among Bechtold’s most iconic works. The sculpture is an exact replica of a Porsche 911, cast in solid concrete. An object that normally stands for speed, elegance, and technical perfection is rendered literally heavy, immobile, and monumental. Concrete—symbolic of permanence, the construction industry, and urban infrastructure—stands in radical contrast to the very idea of a sports car. By stripping the object of its function, Bechtold transforms it into a sculpture that negates mobility while simultaneously exposing and questioning its cultural glorification.

The Heidi Horten Collection is dedicating a major solo exhibition to the artist-theorist Elisabeth von Samsonow, highlighting a practice that unfolds far beyond the boundaries of any single discipline. For the first time, the multifaceted work of Elisabeth von Samsonow (*1956, Germany; based in Austria since 1995) is being presented on this scale, revealing both its artistic breadth and intellectual depth.

Conceived as a powerful and richly narrative survey, the exhibition takes the form of a dynamic parcours that brings together early works and recent bodies of work alike. Sculptures, paintings, drawings, films, and a site-specific installation offer insight into a remarkable practice distinguished by performative thinking, formal diversity, and a deeply interdisciplinary approach.

At the heart of Samsonow’s artistic practice lies an intense engagement with the earth as a bearer of history, life, energy, and collective memory. Her works draw on motifs from cultural history and translate them into a contemporary visual language. Movement—both physical and psychological—is a central element: with poetic playfulness, Samsonow’s work crosses the boundaries imposed by rational systems of order, opening spaces between art, philosophy, anthropology, and political thought.

Sculptural installations and cycles of paintings that revolve narratively around the Gaia myth play a particularly significant role, addressing fundamental questions of origin, body, birth, value, and transformation. Many of her wooden sculptures are carved from entire tree trunks, including works made from a thousand-year-old linden tree, whose material presence renders growth and time tangibly perceptible.