Philomena Pichler passed away on January 5, 2026. We are saddened - and send our sincere condolences to her family and all those who were close to her. For BURN-IN, she was much more than an artistic position: she enriched our gallery with her presence, her thinking and her art - as a companion and friend. Anyone who experienced her remembers an independent, strong personality: Philomena knew exactly what she wanted - clearly, precisely, with attitude. A few impressions revive the memory of shared paths and moments.
Pichler's work is an early, convincing contribution to sustainability in art - not as a buzzword, but as an artistic consequence. She worked with materials that were already in use, transformed the functional into something sensual and made object art a central component of her oeuvre. The "Bilderwald", begun in 2002, is exemplary of this: cardboard rolls become tree ensembles, material becomes metamorphosis, discard becomes value. The fact that BURN-IN shares this way of thinking has led to many years of collaboration: we have presented her work since 2014, including in "Transparency and Sustainability" and in "Bilderwald" (March 2018). Her art remains - as an aesthetic argument, and as an attitude.