Lentos to Present Katrin Plavčak’s ‘Painting Reality in Surreal Times’

Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz will present ‘Katrin Plavčak. Painting Reality in Surreal Times’, an exhibition examining how painting can respond to political instability, misinformation and contemporary crises. The exhibition will run from 18 September 2026 through 10 January 2027 at the museum in Linz, Austria, with an opening event scheduled for 17 September from 7 to 9pm.

Plavčak’s paintings bring together vivid colours, varied forms and figurative imagery. The apparent cheerfulness of both their palette and subject matter, however, gives way to more serious considerations of social, political and scientific questions. According to the exhibition’s presentation, the show reflects on the experience of living and painting in turbulent times, asking how reality is viewed amid fake news, unstable political conditions and looming crises.

Four themes structure the exhibition: geopolitics, democracy, gender roles and “real ghost worlds.” The works address intensified tendencies toward violence in geopolitics, consider the meaning of democracy, and examine constructions of gender. They also move into realms described by the museum as real ghost worlds. Across the exhibition, Plavčak draws on popular culture, psychoanalysis and art-historical references to create what Lentos characterises as a humorous but intellectually charged visual cosmos.

The presentation includes works such as ‘Is she a lady?’ (2015), ‘Legal Aliens’ (2010), ‘Woman Soldier’ (2010), ‘The guitar gently weeps’ (2018), ‘Republik Europa (The Lady facing Afrika)’ (2018), ‘Cuz, it’s so sad, bro / Darnella Frazier, 17 (George Floyd)’ (2020), ‘Parallelwelt’ (2022), ‘Big Smoke Cooking’ (2025) and ‘Ocean’ (2026). The selection also includes documentation of the exhibition ‘What Happened in the Digital Hood?’, presented at Kunstverein Heilbronn in 2022.

Hem­mä Schmutz is the exhibition’s curator, with Sandra Eichinger serving as curatorial assistant. A catalogue, ‘Katrin Plavčak. Painting Reality in Surreal Times’, will be published by Verlag für moderne Kunst. The 192-page volume will contain texts in German and English by Danica Đorđević Janković, Gabriele Mackert, Katrin Plavčak, Hemma Schmutz and Bart Verschaffel, and will be available from the exhibition’s opening at the Lentos shop and online.

The museum’s programme includes public tours beginning on 20 September, as well as an English-language express tour on 3 October. A tour in Austrian Sign Language is also scheduled for 3 October. On 29 September, Lentos will host a Baby Tour through the exhibition for visitors with babies; the museum states that the approximately 60-minute programme is adapted to the needs of infants and accompanying adults. An adult painting studio inspired by Plavčak’s approach is planned for 7–8 November 2026. Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz is located at Ernst-Koref-Promenade 1 and is open Tuesday to Sunday, with extended hours on Thursdays.