STEPHAN BALKENHOL
LÀ CI DAREM LA MANO

RESIDENZPLATZ, SALZBURG, AUSTRIA
25 JULY – 5 SEPTEMBER 2026

For this year’s project on Residenzplatz in Salzburg, an installation by the internationally renowned artist Stephan Balkenhol has been realized. The temporary art installation, entitled LÀ CI DAREM LA MANO … (roughly translated into English as “There we will give each other our hands”), can be viewed throughout the festival season.

© Photo Dominik Kusion

With his project, Balkenhol aims to bring Residenzplatz to life anew with figures from the world of opera. They are intended to become a temporary physical presence in the everyday life of the city and its people. In this way, the figures become citizens of the city, engaging with universal human themes such as freedom, power, guilt, jealousy, and love.

© Photos Dominik Kusion

Parallel to the installation on Residenzplatz, sculptures by Stephan Balkenhol inspired by the world of opera are being presented in the state rooms of the DomQuartier, on view from 27 July – 5 October 2026. The historic setting of the former residence places the works within a distinctive context and further strengthens the connection between the histories of music, the city, and art.

© Photo Florian Stürzenbaum

FEATURED ARTIST

STEPHAN BALKENHOL
Stephan Balkenhol (b. 1957 in Fritzlar, Germany) is one of the most renowned German sculptors of our time and famous for his coloured wood sculptures, as well as drawings and prints.

Balkenhol’s public bronze sculptures, some of which are of monumental dimensions, often entail an element of surprise, appearing in unusual places. Back in the early 1980s, Balkenhol resolutely turned his back on prevailing trends to embrace figuration. Working at the intersection between a minimalist and a concrete visual language as well as the rise of the Neue Wilde, he has made the human figure and fundamental questions around human existence the cons...
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