MuseumsQuartier presents AWAKE by Šejla Kamerić
One-night public light installation in the heart of Vienna
The new site-specific public light installation by Šejla Kamerić, AWAKE, transforms the MuseumsQuartier courtyard into a space reminiscent of a vigil, a temporary site of shared reflection that resists certainty and fixed narratives. On Saturday, 25 April 2026, for one evening, we gather to light a candle as an attentive community, reflecting on shared vulnerability. This is a call for remembrance and active vigilance.
With AWAKE, Kamerić proposes an outdoor temporary gathering site, installing hundreds of red lanterns interspersed with small rotating emergency lights that activate at intervals. Participants are invited to move among the lights, becoming
physically implicated in an evolving constellation.
At irregular moments, pulses of rotating light interrupt the stillness. These subtle yet insistent signals shift the rhythm of the encounter, introducing a quiet tension between contemplation and alertness. What first appears ceremonial becomes uncertain; what feels intimate becomes shared exposure. Through this fragile choreography of anticipation and interruption, AWAKE reflects on how memory, emotion, and political urgency inhabit the same instant.
Working across disciplines and boundaries, Kamerić’s politically engaged practice explores collective vigilance and civic empathy in times of political crisis. Projects such as EU/Others (2000), Bosnian Girl (2003), and CEASE (2024) have repeatedly transformed public space into a site of reflection on shared responsibility. With AWAKE, Kamerić expands her exploration of questions of identity, trauma, and memory. The installation will be presented throughout 2026 at the Dr. Éva Kahán Foundation in Budapest and Vienna. Initiated by MuseumsQuartier in Vienna and Nomad – The Croatian Office for Contemporary Art in Zagreb, and supported by the UNIQA SEE FUTUREuture Foundation and the Dr. Éva Kahán Foundation.
Curated by Astrid Peterle