ARTISTLouise Deininger
Louise Deininger is a multidisciplinary artist and doctoral researcher at blaxTARLINES, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. Born in Jinja, Uganda, and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, and London, UK, she lives and works between Vienna, Austria, Gulu, Uganda, and Kumasi, Ghana.
Her practice spans painting, sculpture, installation, textiles, film, objects, and socially engaged art, exploring how memory, cultural inheritance, and knowledge are preserved and transformed through material forms. Using indigenous and organic materials such as Ugandan bark cloth, East African kanga textiles, and elephant dung, her work investigates objects and landscapes as living archives that embody complex histories and ways of knowing.
Through processes of transformation, excavation, and reconstruction, Deininger examines how histories move across places, cultures, and generations, creating space for inherited narratives to be revisited and reimagined. She is the founder of GYCO Academy in Northern Uganda, an initiative that promotes youth leadership, creative learning, and cultural exchange through the arts.
From 2021 to 2023, Deininger served as Co-President of VBKÖ, the Austrian Association of Women Visual Artists.
Education Background
Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Contextual Painting
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria
Studied under the mentorship of Prof. Ashley Hans Scheirl
1996-2000
Higher National Diploma (HND) in Humanities, Psychology, Sociology and Communications
Uxbridge College, Hayes Campus, London, United Kingdom
Professional Experience
2021-2023
Co-President
VBKÖ (Association of Women Visual Artists Austria)
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025
Voices, Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts (The Hurston), Eatonville, Florida, USA
GLIMPSES: The Intergenerationality of Identity, Eindorf Kunstraum, Vienna, Austria
2024
Loud Whispers from the Ancestors, SPARK Art Fair, Solo Presentation with Xenson Art Space, Vienna, Austria
Family Scars (A Man’s Search for His Soul), Xenson Art Space, Kampala, Uganda
Scar Phases, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
Beneath the Surface: Mapping the Scars of Colonialism, Michael Bella Gallery, Vienna, Austria
2022
Rays of the Ancestors, Parallel Vienna Art Fair, Solo Booth, Vienna, Austria
2020
DNA of War: Transcendence Through Forgiveness, Vienna, Austria
Being in the Brain Of, Frau Bernhard Off Space, Vienna, Austria
2019
Knowledge Art Week, Nairobi, Kenya
2018
Being in the Brain Of, Public Domain, Porgy & Bess, Vienna, Austria
2016
Bridging the Gap, Embassy of the Republic of Kenya, Vienna, Austria
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
In Minor Keys, 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Arsenale, Venice, Italy (blaxTARLINES/KNUST Presentation)
Feminist Futures Forever, Belvedere 21, Vienna, Austria
Self-Assertiveness, AG18 Gallery, Vienna, Austria
Anchor, soul to soul, The 7 Space Art Gallery & Wellness Centre, Newark, New Jersey, USA
US, Art & History Museums (A&H), Maitland, Florida, USA
2025
Passion, Simacek Collection, Künstlerhaus Vereinigung, Vienna, Austria
2024
(auto)Destruction – and Against It, Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina & Cultural Centre of Novi Sad, Serbia
The Art of Seeing, Bonhams, Vienna, Austria
2023
A Parade Through the Years, Eileen Kaminsky Family Foundation, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, USA
Gespaltene Zunge, Museums Quartier (MQ), Vienna, Austria
SYSTEMRELEVANT, Künstlerhaus Vereinigung, Vienna, Austria
Collectors Choice, Galerie Hilger NEXT, Vienna, Austria
2021
Undoing Landscape, curated by Adam Szymczyk, Erste Foundation Academy, Vienna, Austria
Undoing Landscape, Parallel Editions Art Fair, Vienna, Austria
House of Losing Control, Vienna Art Week, Vienna, Austria
The Portal, Parallel Vienna Art Fair, Vienna, Austria
Independent Space Index, VBKÖ, Vienna, Austria
2020
Garden of Knowledge, Ars Electronica (International)
ARTCARE, Parallel Vienna Art Fair, Vienna, Austria
For the Days Yet to Come, Fluc, Vienna, Austria
Mixtsherz: Featuring Amoako Boafo and Friends, Vienna, Austria
2019
Between the Sheets, VBKÖ, Parallel Vienna Art Fair, Vienna, Austria
Here We Are Now, Artcare Off Space, Vienna, Austria
The Future is Now, the Future is Female, The Loft, Vienna, Austria
2018
Praktisch Scheiße, Kulturtankstelle, Salzburg, Austria
2017
SubDocumenta, Athens Museum of Queer Arts (AMOQA), Off-Site Project of Documenta 14, Athens, Greece
RESIDENCES
2024
Artist Residency, blaxTARLINES, Organisational Network and Incubator for Art in Ghana, Kumasi, Ghana
Artist Residency, Art & History Museums (A&H), Maitland, Florida, USA
2023
Artist Residency, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, New Jersey, USA
Artist Residency, Burning Man Project, Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA
AWARDS & HONOURS
2025
Empower Her Award, Creative Innovation-Vienna Austria
2019
Black Austrian Art and Culture Award-Vienna Austria