BWM Designers & Architects

The design concept for the exhibition entitled “The Self in Focus”, featuring work by Oskar Kokoschka and photos from his life, was inspired by the subject matter itself. This was the first time that the Leopold Museum dedicated an exhibition to photos from Kokoschka’s life.

The exhibition design concept developed by BWM Architekten referenced the photographic medium (in particular, black and white photography), which was then placed in an interesting dialogue with the oeuvre of Oskar Kokoschka.

The black and white photos were divided into 39 chapters and presented on walls painted in 17 shades of grey, while Kokoschka’s original paintings were presented on a black or white background (Kokoschka himself painted his own studio black to better accentuate his paintings). The exhibits were arranged in chronological order.