Iranian-born artist Soli Kiani creates a body of work in which fabric becomes both a formative substance and a carrier of social meaning. Themes such as origin, physicality, and negotiating patriarchal structures are combined in her work with a distinctive, sculptural language. For the Dominikanerkirche Krems, she has conceived a spatial installation in which textile materials serve as the central artistic medium.

Inside the church, vertical, column-like fabric sculptures made of hardened textile panels and ropes rise from simple concrete bases. They appear both architectural and corporeal, accentuating the height and strict geometry of the nave. The abstracted forms are reminiscent of textile coverings and allude to the chador—a full-length, dark, traditional Iranian cloak that functions both as a symbol of protection and constraint. The material—stiffened with acrylic medium and glue—retains traces of its original flexibility, creating a tension between rigidity and movement.

Accompanying the installation are photorealistic drawings on canvas that depict the human body with precise, almost sculptural clarity. These works deliberately contrast with the material aesthetics of the sculptures and open a dialogue on identity, self-determination, vulnerability, and presence. Their interplay creates sightlines that actively engage the Gothic space and intensify its effect. In the Dominikanerkirche Krems, Soli Kiani weaves together personal experience, social reflection, and spatial composition.

Soli Kiani was born in Shiraz in 1981. She has lived in Vienna since 2000 and completed her studies at the University of Applied Arts in 2012. In 2019, she received the STRABAG Artaward Recognition Prize. The exhibition in Krems brings together central aspects of her work to date and showcases the development of a position that translates material, body, and social reality into a precise yet accessible visual language.

Curator: Florian Steininger