Phileas - The Austrian Office for Contemporary Art supports artists, curators, galleries and institutions in Austria and works to strengthen their presence on the international landscape of contemporary art.

Through long-term partnerships with museums, biennials and art institutions around the world, we enable the production and exhibition of new artworks and their donation to public collections.

Our exhibition space and office in Vienna provides a window into our international activities and a meeting place for public talks, screenings and performances.

We publish an annual series of artist monographs and maintain an Artist Library of exhibition catalogues and portfolios available for research and consultation.

We support the Austrian Pavilion at the Biennale di Venezia through a combination of fundraising, publishing and historical research, and are commissioners of the first Austrian Pavilion at the Gwangju Biennale, South Korea, in 2024.

To complement these activities, we run an active Visitor Programme that invites international curators and critics to Austria throughout the year to visit artists' studios, galleries, museums and artist-run spaces.

Founded in 2014 – 10 years ago – Phileas - The Austrian Office for Contemporary Art is funded by the contributions of its private members and the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport.

Phileas office and exhibition space at Opernring 17, Vienna. Photo: Jamie McGregor Smith

Angelika Loderer, Untitled (Ribbons), 2021, co-produced by Phileas for the 5th New Museum Triennial, New York. Photo: Dario Lasagni.


Team

  • Deputy Director & International Relations
    margherita@phileas.art

    Margherita Belcredi (born 1987) is an art historian and holds a BA in the History of Art from the University of Vienna, and an MFA Curating from Goldsmiths College, University of London. She has over a decade of experience in the commercial art world in London, Berlin and New York. While at White Cube, she focussed on the gallery’s External Projects and Commissions. During her time as Co-Director at Contemporary Fine Arts, she was responsible for sales and the exhibition programme.

  • Visitor Programme
    anna@phileas.art

    Anna Hugo (born 1991) holds an MA in critical theory and the arts from the School of Visual Arts, New York (2017), an MA in fine art from the University of Applied Arts Vienna (2013), and a diploma in fine art and design from Edinburgh College of Art (2011). She has experience working for the Independent Art Fair, New York; New Museum, New York; Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York; Gladstone Gallery, New York; Kunstverein Gartenhaus, Vienna; and as a curator and consultant for international private art collections. She is an editor and contributing author to PW-Magazine.

  • Editorial & Publications
    magdalena@phileas.art

    Magdalena Polak (born 1996) holds a BA in art history and Russian from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and an MA in arts administration from Columbia University, New York. She has experience both in the visual and performing arts, having worked in the curatorial departments of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, as well as the Young Artist Development Programme at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. She worked as a journalist and subsequently as chief editor for the Art History Magazine at St. Andrews, and took courses at the School of Journalism at Columbia University.

  • Development and Public Engagement
    dorothea@phileas.art

    Dorothea Schellhorn (born 1980) is a historian who graduated from the University of Vienna and Sciences Po, Paris. Following her studies, she worked for the art office art:phalanx, where she conceived and produced art awards, exhibitions and projects as an art consultant for various companies. From 2007 to 2009, she worked as a PR manager for departure, the creative agency of the City of Vienna, and from 2009 to 2011 she was curatorial assistant to the director of the Belvedere. In 2012–13 she organized the curated by festival with contemporary art galleries in Vienna, and then spent three years working as a project manager for LABVERT architecture and design. From 2019 to 2022, she was responsible for fundraising and sponsorships at the Leopold Museum in Vienna.

  • Director
    jasper@phileas.art

    Jasper Sharp (born 1975) is a curator and art historian, and a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He began his career in 1999 at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, where he worked as head of exhibitions and collections until 2005. After moving to Vienna, he worked in the curatorial department at TBA21 before joining the Kunsthistorisches Museum in 2011 as the first curator of modern and contemporary art in the museum’s history. Tasked with developing a new programme of exhibitions and public events, he curated more than twenty projects over the next ten years with artists including Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Susan Philipsz, Kerry James Marshall, Kathleen Ryan, Mark Rothko, Fiona Tan, Lucian Freud and Joseph Cornell. He also worked closely with Ed Ruscha, Edmund de Waal, Wes Anderson and Juman Malouf on groundbreaking presentations of the museum’s historical collections.

    Sharp was curator and commissioner of the Austrian Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013 and produced the 35mm film Imitation of Life with artist Mathias Poledna, which was subsequently acquired by Tate Modern, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago for their permanent collections. On this occasion he was also the editor of the publication Austria and the Venice Biennale 1895–2013, the first complete illustrated history of Austria’s participation in the Venice Biennale. He was the founding curator of the talks programme at Frieze Masters, London, and has curated exhibitions and contributed catalogue texts for institutions including the Royal Academy, London; Fondazione Prada, Milan; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Kunstmuseum Basel; the National Gallery, London; the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, and many others.

  • Exhibition Programme
    margarita@phileas.art

    Margarita Thurn (born 1980) is an art historian and graduate of the University of Vienna. Following her studies, she worked as an assistant to the artist Erwin Wurm, and was employed as a staff member of the sculpture and multimedia class at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Subsequently, she worked for the art office art:phalanx, where she conceived and produced art awards, exhibitions and projects as an art consultant for various companies. From 2017 to 2022 she worked as a curatorial assistant at the Leopold Museum in Vienna.

Anna Hugo, Magdalena Polak, Margarita Thurn, Jasper Sharp, Dorothea Schellhorn, Margherita Belcredi (from left to right). Photo: Jamie McGregor Smith


Funding

Phileas was founded in Vienna in 2014 as an independent philanthropic organisation funded by the contributions of private members. In 2023 we formed a partnership with the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts and Culture to create a new organisation named Phileas – The Austrian Office for Contemporary Art. By pooling our expertise and combining public and private resources, we will be able to provide even greater support to artists and institutions and contribute to a further strengthening of Austria’s position on the international landscape of contemporary art.

Members

PARTNERS

Frank Aigner & Gerald Schweighofer
Beatriz & Richard Belcredi
Miryam & Daniel Charim
Valérie & Nikodemus Colloredo
Gerda Dujsik
Nicole & Stefan Ehrlich-Adám
Antje & Friedrich Frey
Eva-Maria & Christian Höfer
Birgit & Erwin Krause
Maria & Stefan Krieglstein
Andreas Ludwig
Marko Musulin
Bettina & Andreas Niedersüß
Nitsch Foundation
Kathrin & Hans Pfleiderer
Doris Pichler
Veronika Piëch
Julian Epok & Christoph Pliessnig
Robert Ramsauer
Anita & Markus Schimel
Barbara Schlaff
Brindusa Bernacik & Franz Schwarz
Marion & Erwin Soravia
Danielle Spera & Martin Engelberg
Marija & Stefan Stolitzka
Michaela & Alexander Sulke
Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza
Agnita Vavere
Renate & Martin Waldhäusl

JUNIOR PARTNERS

Anne-Kathrin & Alexander Belcredi
Johannes Diwald
Rula & Nikolaus Draskovich
Alexander Flatz
Silvia & Thomas Grabner
Yvonne Toncic-Sorinj & Martin Grüll
Angelika & Christian Hieke
Sissy & Martin Janda
Andrea Jungmann
Mafalda & Louis Kahane
Jutta & Alexander Knechtsberger
Lisa Küfferle
Emanuel Layr
Felix Leutner
Claudia & Rudolph Lobmeyr
Valerie & Sebastian Loudon
Anna & Tobias Mansel-Pleydell
Eleonore Ogrinz
Leni Piëch & Johannes Teltscher
Sophie Piëch & Arthur Resetschnig
Katharina & Clemens Schindler
Marina & Constantin Spitzy
Florian Staudinger & Paul Hallam
Natalia & Johannes Weyringer
Tatiana & Manfred Wiesner

HONORARY MEMBERS

Georg Geyer
Peter Polak
Bianca Boscu
Stefanie Reisinger
Moritz Stipsicz

For membership inquiries please contact membership@phileas.art

The work of Phileas – The Austrian Office for Contemporary Art is overseen by a Supervisory Board which is responsible for the organisation's strategy and governance.  The members of the Supervisory Board are:

Nicole Ehrlich-Adám
Theresia Niedermüller
Peter Polak
Gudrun Schreiber

Supervisory Board

The work of Phileas – The Austrian Office for Contemporary Art is supported and guided by an international Advisory Board, whose members are experts in the field of contemporary art and closely acquainted with the Austrian art scene. The members of the Advisory Board are:

Lisa Gersdorf, Publisher, frieze, Berlin and London
Max Hollein, Director, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Tessa Praun, Director and Chief curator, Magasin III Museum for Contemporary Art, Stockholm
Hans Schabus, Artist and Professor, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Simone Subal, Gallerist, New York

Advisory Board