VIA GLUCK 62 AIR. BEYOND THE IMAGE ART PRIZE 2026
SELECTION AS ONE OF THE TOP 10 PROJECT APPLICATIONS
Flourishing is an artistic research project initiated by Alexandra Reill in the spring of 2026. It focuses on examining recent developments in flourishing research and exploring how flourishing futurity can be built. What is needed to guide futurity toward flourishing? Or: To guide flourishing to futurity?
Currently, FLOURISHING consists of the following modules:
MODULE 01:
SERIES OF RESEARCH PAPERS
(2,000–15,000 characters; number of characters varies per paper)
— Resources for Flourishing Within Self-Image-Shaping Digital Environments
Artistic research paper
2026. Currently under print production by VIA Gluck AIR and peer review by the curatorial team of the Villa Arson’s residency program.
— Title not given here as still under review.
Artistic research paper on treating suffering in light of flourishing demands
2026–. Abstract currently under peer review by noema
— Title not given here as still under review.
Artistic research paper on bricolage and its capacity to write myth in the contemporary arts
2026. Currently under peer review by Leonardo. MIT Press.
MODULE 02:
2026. FROM SP19-22. ABOUT A WOMAN WHO IS NO LONGER RECOGNIZABLE or THE HAT AND THE FLOWERS
In an age in which digital images increasingly mediate memory, self-understanding, social recognition, and everyday experience, the central question of this work is not how accurately an image represents a person, but what conditions enable a person to flourish within an image-saturated environment.
The experimental video reflects current conditions.
Note: The video peace released is an interim beta version.
MODULE 03:
RECOGNIZABLE FLOURISHING
Video piece continuing the investigation of recognition, identity, self-image, and the visibility of flourishing states.
Envisaged.
MODULE 04:
AIR BORMES. BLOSSOMING
The wall installation format AIR Bormes. Flourishing consists of a digital / print series of individual photographs and [looping] microfilms, as well as photo and video series, each of which has its own title. All of these works depict lushly growing plants.
Module 04 is divided into three categories:
— AIR Bormes. Blossoms
— AIR Bormes. Cactuses
— AIR Bormes. Bushes and Trees
The photographs and videos were taken in spring 2026 during a week-long residency in southern France undertaken by Alexandra Reill. After reviewing all the photographs, the artist found it remarkable that, unlike on any other trip she had ever taken, and apparently unconsciously—with the exception of only a very few, isolated shots that were essentially those of a tourist—she had photographed exclusively plants and flowers.
Whether her fascination with and admiration for a plant world of such exuberance—one she had never before experienced, both in its locally specific diversity and its overall characteristics—had a retroactive effect on her subconscious, or whether the choice of subjects occurred in the reverse order, remains an open question.
MODULE 05:
A GLASS OF WATER
The photograph A Glass of Water reflects known and unknown options for creating a future in the here and now. The exhibition of the piece could be accompanied by text excerpts from the artistic research on the topic.
MODULE 06:
DAILY LIFE NOTES FROM FLOURISHING
The practice of capturing photographs and videos almost in passing, as unpretentious observations of daily flourishing, remains a continuous activity across the entire process.
— With Lukas in the more than lushly blooming Sonnwendviertel
2026. Minimalistic documentary photo series recording the wealth of moments jointly experienced during the personal assistance of a friend with physical limitations over seven months. The work approaches flourishing through intimacy, duration, shared attention, and the accumulation of “ordinary” experiences.
alexandra reill, 2026
photographic series of three
kanonmedia / vie / a / 26
The digital series of the original photographs is part of Lukas Kaltenbäck’s art collection.
MODULE 07:
MORE, LESS, OR NOT ABSTRACTED DRAWN AND PAINTED NATURE STUDIES
Envisaged and currently under peer review by the curatorial team of the Villa Arson’s curatorial and artistic research residency program.
MODULE 08:
COLLECTION OF DRAWN AND PAINTED NATURE STUDIES
Envisaged.
MODULE 09:
COLLECTION OF INDIVIDUAL TRACES OF COMMUNICATION
An evolving [and existing] collection investigating relationships, memory, attachment, recognition, empathy, and the material residues of social connection
Individually completed and overally in progress.
MODULE 10:
SPEAKING SUBCONSCIOUS LANGUAGE
Sound installation using associative, subconscious, associative language to explore pre-rational cognition, language formation, and forms of knowledge outside conventional explanatory structures
In progress.
MODULE 11:
HISTORIC AND CONTEMPORARY AI SELF-FIGURING IN FRONT OF FLOURISHING BACKGROUNDS
Series of framed digital prints
In progress.
MODULE 12:
DIARY FORMATS
The diary format can take various forms. Research / collection
In progress.
MODULE 13:
[THEORETICAL AND SCIENTIFIC] POETRY
Written and spoken pieces
In progress.
MODULE 14:
THE EXPERIMENTAL FLOURISHING LAB SERIES
Experimental [and performative media] lectures, seminars, courses, and workshops. Its themes and formats are developed from the approaches and methodologies of the artistic research process.
Format developments in progress. First suggestions currently under peer review by the curatorial team of of the Villa Arson’s curatorial and artistic research residency program.
MODULE 15:
STITCHED FLOURISHING
Collection of stitched plant studies
Envisaged.
MODULE 16:
PRIVATE COLLECTION OF PERFORMANCES OF SONGS THAT BLOOM IN THE EYES OF AR
Audiovisual installation
2026–.
MODULE 17:
EXHIBITION OF ASPECTS OF FLOURISHING IN LIGHT OF ARTISTIC RESEARCH
Curation and installment of the exhibition of results from the modules 01–16
Targeted and currently under peer review by the curatorial team of the Villa Arson’s curatorial and artistic research residency program.
The overall project is divided into the above and maybe more structural modules, which are created “in the flow,” so to speak, during the ongoing research process. In terms of content, these segments may overlap, and in both respects—content and form-wise, creative invention occurs. In both respects the way it emerges can be varied in the different modules or may occur without any changes applied simultaneously.
The topic of flourishing, with its diverse and often mutually or multidirectionally influencing components, can only be considered as a meta-question. Therefore, this trans-, inter-, and anti-disciplinary project considers only a narrow range of aspects individually selected by the artist and researcher. Currently, the author is primarily concerned with the following topics in the context of flourishing:
“Classical” contemporary research approaches (cf. from happiness research, positive psychology, and cognitive sciences); contemporary spirituality research (“flourishing as narrative and the creation of myth”); creativity and artistic research (including a look at keeping lists for writing stories and the analysis of artistic projects that work with them; “spatialization” of flourishing); influences of social inequalities on general well-being (including a look at the formation of social structures through access to common goods); innovative monitoring and evaluation strategies in (artistic) research projects.
Flourishing published by | in
— via gluck 62 air [ed]. beyond the image art prize 2026 / mi / it /26