SPINSTERHOOD - Exhibition by Eva Seiler

10.09.2026

Opening reception 19:00-21:00

18:00 Eva Seiler guided tour + artist talk moderated by exhibition curator Mariam Shergelashvili

Duration: 11.09-08.10.2026

visiting hours everyday except Sundays and Monday from 11:00 until 18:00

08.10 - Finnisage

SPINSTERHOOD explores the interconnected relationship between the mulberry tree, the silkworm, the textile worker and the machine. Developed in dialogue with the historical collection of the State Silk Museum, the exhibition approaches silk production as a network in which biological, technological bodies continuously shape one another.

The history of sericulture reflects changing ideas of labour, productivity and standardisation. Selective breeding transformed the morphology of the domesticated silkworm, while industrial technologies and working conditions influenced the human body. Seiler revisits these processes through sculptures and spatial interventions that draw on the forms of laboratories, looms, tools and production environments.

The State Silk Museum collection provides an important context for this research. Scientific specimens, instruments and archival materials reveal how sericulture developed through observation, classification and technological experimentation. Seiler brings these historical materials into dialogue with her contemporary artistic practice, opening different ways of interpreting objects originally connected to scientific research and silk production. The artist pays particular attention to irregular forms, drawing inspiration from cocoons once classified as unsuitable for production. Such examples raise questions about how ideas of usefulness, perfection and deviation are constructed.

Metamorphosis forms the conceptual centre of the exhibition. The silkworm’s capacity to transform its body becomes a model for thinking about change, adaptation and the possibility of moving beyond fixed forms. The title SPINSTERHOOD connects this process with the history of gendered labour. The word “spinster” originates from spinning, an occupation historically associated with unmarried women, while “sisterhood” introduces ideas of solidarity and self empowerment. Through this connection, Seiler brings biological transformation into dialogue with social roles and histories of female labour.

Combining ecology, labour, technology and gender, SPINSTERHOOD considers silk as a material produced through relationships of mutual dependence and transformation. Within the State Silk Museum, these relationships gain a new perspective through the encounter between the museum’s historical knowledge and Seiler’s artistic research. The exhibition proposes metamorphosis as an open process through which bodies, materials and social roles can continuously acquire new forms and meanings.

Eva Seiler began her collaboration with the State Silk Museum in 2025 within the framework of an artistic residency program supported by the Creative Europe Culture Moves Europe mobility grant. The project SPINSTERHOOD was initially developed for the Climate Biennale Vienna. Its site specific adaptation for the State Silk Museum was developed in dialogue with the museum’s collection and realized in collaboration with exhibition curator Mariam Shergelashvili.

About the Artist

Eva Seiler (b. 1979, Munich) is a Vienna-based artist whose sculptural and installation practice investigates relationships between bodies, materials, technologies and systems of production. She studied scenography and sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp and has taught in the Sculpture and Space Department at the University of Applied Arts Vienna since 2015. Her exhibitions and projects include MQ Art Box, Vienna; ARCUS Project, Japan; Neue Galerie Graz; Tanzquartier Wien; Kunstraum Lakeside, Klagenfurt; and New Jörg, Vienna.Among her awards and residencies are the Beate Sirota Gordon Award of the Austrian Cultural Forum Tokyo (2026), Fellowship for Fine Arts of the City of Vienna (2025), ARCUS Residency Program in Moriya, Japan (2024), Austrian State Fellowship for Fine Arts (2022), Studio Stipend at Cité internationale des arts, Paris (2017), and the MAK Schindler Scholarship in Los Angeles (2012). In her recent research, Seiler explores silk production through the interconnected relationships between the silkworm, mulberry tree, textile labour and technology, drawing on research developed across Turkey, Georgia, Japan and Austria.