Bernhard Leitner: Soundspacesculpture

'My works are instruments to create and transform space through sound. They enable and determine specific sound movements, a specific way of defining space. Just as different pieces are written for a conventional sound instrument, different spatial programs and sound programs can be created for each SOUND: SPACE instrument.' (Bernhard Leitner, New York 1977) For more than five decades, Bernhard Leitner has been devoted to the idea of sculpturally shaping and designing space with sound – its movement, frequency, timbre and volume. As early as 1969, with his move from Vienna to New York, where he would live until 1982, he recorded his first theoretical reflections on sound-space sculptures in drawings and notes. Here, the trained architect, whose thinking is equally influenced by New Music as by classical and contemporary dance as well as visual art, began to conceive of sound as building material. In his major solo exhibition SOUNDSPACESCULPTURE, Bernhard Leitner presents a new large-scale work that he has developed for this occasion in the context of selected works. The exhibition thus offers the opportunity to engage with Leitner's artistic practice and key research questions and to perceive his sculptural sound architectures or sonic space drawings not only acoustically but holistically and physically. As a pioneer of Sound Art, Leitner has sustainably shaped subsequent generations of artists. This exhibition spans a wide arc from early theoretical investigations in sketches, photographs and graphics through significant works to the idea of 'listening with the body' to a newly created work for the Secession – Water Cube / Wall Waves (2026). The idea underlying the work can be linked to the Sound Cube designed as early as 1969 – a then purely theoretical model of one equipped with multiple loudspeakers

Bernhard Leitner: Soundspacesculpture takes place on 19 November 2026, 18:00 (+1) at Secession.

Part of the event series: Bernhard Leitner →

19 November 2026, 18:00 (+1)

Secession · Friedrichstraße 12, 1010 Wien

This event is in the Freihausviertel neighbourhood (4th district) – known as hip, design, cozy.

Nearest public transport stop: Karlsplatz (U4, 2, 311, 096 and more), ~50 m.

Sights nearby: Wiener Secession, Staatsoper Wien, Rahlstiege.

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