For Berlin Art Week, the gallery DITTRICH & SCHLECHTRIEM presents the second major solo exhibition of Austrian artist Daniel Hölzl — a highlight among this year’s exhibition program.
Image gallery
Kunstwerk Daniel Hölzl
Daniel Hölzl, soft cylcles, 2025
PROPEL continues Hölzl’s conceptual exploration of industrial memory, material cycles, and the tensions between technology and nature in an impressive and thought-provoking manner.
The exhibition is far more than a sculptural ensemble: it is a study of propulsion, progress, and decay — both formally and conceptually. At its core are three distinct propeller formations, shifting between kinetic motion, deformation, and poetic symbolism: seed meets bomb, origin meets end.
One propeller, mounted on an original engine from a historic Berlin Airlift aircraft, scrapes across the floor with deformed blades — part airborne, part crashed. Over the heads of visitors, a second formation made of hollow carbon fiber propellers rotates above. Drops of recycled air pollution hit the walls as black ink, gradually leaving a drawn trace over the course of the exhibition. The third group, cast in paraffin wax, rises and falls with the temperature of the room — a subtle commentary on entropy, climate cycles, and technological fragility.
The installation is complemented by a new series of flower images melted into wax. These works, based on found imagery, explore the theme of transience with striking yet delicate intensity.
Daniel Hölzl’s artistic practice combines sculptural precision with a highly sensitive reflection on our present, particularly the systems that shape energy, environment, and mobility.
Following GROUNDED (2022), PROPEL marks the next consistent step in his interdisciplinary body of work.
In addition to the gallery exhibition, Hölzl is featured in two other Berlin Art Week projects:
- With the solo installation soft cycles on the roof of the Berlinische Galerie
- And in collaboration with Abie Franklin in the site-specific work Bycatch as part of HALLEN 06 at Wilhelm Hallen (September 6–14, 2025)
Daniel Hölzl (*1994 in Schwaz, Austria) creates site-specific installations that embody a constant state of transformation. A recurring theme in his work is what he sees as the underlying “cyclical nature” of all things. Carefully selected materials draw attention to the transience of each moment, connecting the installation to the space and its viewers. Even after completing his degree at Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin, Daniel Hölzl continues to live and work in Berlin.
