Perching majestically on the roof of the Hofburg, an eagle surveys the rooftops of Vienna. From this dizzying height, Christine de Grancy (1942–2025) spent decades exploring the feeling of power and impotence with her camera. Since 1975, the artist used her camera to tell stories about Vienna, the capital of the former empire of the Habsburgs—whose legacy is borne by the small republic of Austria and its inhabitants—from the perspective of statues adorning the city’s monuments. After all, Vienna’s identity is also based on its hierarchies and the divide between celestial life and terrestrial existence, power and impotence, history and the present. For the first time, FOTO ARSENAL WIEN presents Christine de Grancy’s visual narratives Above the World, Beyond the Ages. Of all the gods and goddesses on the rooftops, Mnemosyne—the goddess of memory and the mother of the nine Muses—is the only one missing. Expanded with examples from all periods of her oeuvre, this exhibition pays tribute to the recently deceased photographer.

Opening: June 27, 2025 at 7 p.m.

Speakers:

Veronica Kaup-Hasler
City Councillor for Culture and Science of the City of Vienna

Mercedes Echerer
Co-Kuratorin of the exhibition

Felix Hoffmann
Artistic Director FOTO ARSENAL WIEN, FOTO WIEN

Followed by
DJ-Sets presented by FM4
Music, Dance and Drinks

Many thanks to the BMEIA for providing the pictures.
Credits: Christine de Grancy, Doppeladler auf der Neuen Burg, 1980 © Christine de Grancy