Initiated and led by Museion, this research project was carried out in partnership with BAU – Institute for Contemporary Art and Ecology, in close collaboration with the artist’s family.
Conscious of the significance of the artist’s oeuvre—both regionally and internationally—a year after his death the institution decided to systematically map out, preserve, and open up new perspectives on his body of work. The project was carried out in multiple phases between 2021 and 2025. The first phase focused on his time studying in London and his activities and network across Europe, and the second on his New York period (2014–2020).
Project Database
From 05.12.2025 to 01.02.2026 the research was presented to the public in Museion Passage, in the exhibition Mapping out an Artistic Practice: A Research project by Museion curated by BAU and with graphic design by the Claudia Polizzi studio.
The exhibition is accompanied by a publication, which is intended as a dipositif, an attempt to describe the research process. Since this publication does not provide a strictly linear reading of the artist’s biography, and especially of his work, but instead functions as an open system, the individual elements appear in relation to one another.
This research does not end with the exhibition and publication; instead, they should be understood as pauses for reflection—as moments of stopping and taking stock—so as to continue working through and reflecting upon this body of work over the coming years and decades. So as not to let it fade into the mists of memory, but to actively pass it on.
For more information about the research project on Sven Sachsalber or to provide contributions useful to the research, please feel free to contact the project coordinator at the following email address: elena.bini@museion.it
The mapping parameters
The research allowed us to reconstruct a timeline, which connects the stations of Sachsalber’s life with the places he lived and worked, enters into dialogue with six key terms, which emerged from several conversations held with the artist’s companions along the journey and collaborators between 2022 and 2024: home, body, time, art, books, and friendship. These terms unite Sven Sachsalber’s approach to both art and life—a boundary that did not exist for him—and outline the issues and questions that constantly preoccupied him.
The key terms are linked to his works in order to provide a deeper insight into Sachsalber’s way of thinking and working.
Where do I come from? Who and where is home, my family?
How can the body of a former top athlete with inexhaustible stamina be made into an artistic instrument and medium?
Seriality and time, as duration and measure of what comes between the beginning and the end.
The deep interest in the system of art and its history as a central element of his work.
Books as a source of inspiration, but also as a medium.
Sven’s relationships to other people and friendship, the driving force of his existence and the guiding light of his artistic work and achievements.
Mapping out an Artistic Practice: A Research project by Museion
