First Monograph: Till Megerle
Till Megerle (b. Bayreuth, 1979; lives and works in Vienna) draws dense compositions with biro pen and colored pencil in which layered lines compress time into the surface of the paper. His works unfold like scenes from a disturbing youtube-clip, populated by expressive, often contorted figures that suggest fragmented narratives and corporeality. Alongside drawing, Megerle works in photography, video and performance, treating each medium as distinct yet evolving in dialogue. Across these media, a recurring focus in his practice is the human body in interaction – stretched, exaggerated or caught in moments of tension and release.
The publication is the next addition to the series of First Monographs, produced by Phileas – The Austrian Office for Contemporary Art. Previous editions in the series have been dedicated to Sophie Thun (2022), Christian Kosmas Mayer (2023), Birke Gorm (2024) and Toni Schmale (2025), with the aim to provide the first comprehensive overview of the work of these Austrian and Austria-based artists.
With essays by Manfred Hermes, Laura López Paniagua, Kelly Montana and Sophia Rohwetter.
Release February / March 2027
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Manfred Hermes is a German independent author, art historian and film critic based in Berlin. He contributes essays, reviews and commentary to contemporary art journals, exhibition catalogues, and publications, including the magazine Texte zur Kunst.
His research focuses on post-war German culture, cinema and contemporary visual arts. Hermes is the author of the monograph Martin Kippenberger (DuMont Buchverlag, 2005), which examines the career and impact of the German painter and sculptor. In 2012, he published Deutschland hysterisieren. Fassbinder, Alexanderplatz (b_books), an analysis of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's television adaptation of Alfred Döblin's novel. Additionally, Hermes has written text contributions for several contemporary artists, including essays for the catalogue raisonné of sculptor Isa Genzken.
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Laura López Paniagua is an art historian, critic and lecturer specialising in contemporary art, memory cultures and aesthetics. She completed her PhD thesis, Memory in the Work of Mike Kelley (2015), between Freie Universität Berlin and Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Since 2015, she has taught at Bard College Berlin, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, and has lectured internationally at institutions including Barnard College and New York University. She regularly contributes to art journals and collaborates with galleries and institutions such as Schinkel Pavillon and the Venice Biennale. Her recent publications include Mike Kelley: Materialist Aesthetics and Memory Illusions (2020) and Mike Kelly: Ghost and Spirit (2025), which was published by the Tate Modern.
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Kelly Montana is Associate Curator at the Menil Drawing Institute, Houston, where she has worked for the past ten years. Recently curated projects include Hanne Darboven – Writing Time; Si Lewen: The Parade; Brice Marden: Think of Them as Spaces; and Lines of Resolution: Drawing at the Advent of Television and Video (co-curated with Anna Lovatt). Additionally, she has curated site-specific commissions with Ronny Quevedo, Marc Bauer and Marcia Kure as part of the Menil’s Wall Drawing Series.
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Sophia Roxane Rohwetter is an art historian and writer based in Vienna. She studied art history, philosophy and cultural studies in Lüneburg, Zurich, Vermont and Vienna, and is currently a research assistant in the Department of Art History at the University of Vienna. She writes and teaches on the history and philosophy of contemporary art, avant-garde and experimental film, and psychoanalytic and materialist aesthetics. She often collaborates with artists and has contributed texts to various exhibitions and catalogues. She also writes art criticism, and in 2024 she was awarded the first AICA Prize for Young Art Criticism. She recently contributed to the publication accompanying the retrospective exhibition of Tobias Pils.
