Lichtenfels Sculpture is a three-hectar wide, open air sculpture park in the Austrian Waldviertel. Every two years, changing exhibitions of international contemporary sculpture take place here. The carefully curated selection of artworks is freely accessible throughout the year and negotiates, among other things, the relationship of the ancient environment, strongly influenced by crafts and forestry, with contemporary art. The first edition of Lichtenfels Sculpture took place in 2021 and was co-curated by founder Olivia Thurn-Valsassina and Viennese gallery owner Emanuel Layr.
Lena Henke 'Las Pozas' and Dominique Knowles 'Ode to Tazz' are accessible throughout the whole year.
In its second edition Lichtenfels Sculpture presented a site-specific installation by Lithuanian artist Augustas Serapinas. Situated on the shores of the Ottenstein reservoir in Austria, near the Lichtenfels Ruin, Greenhouse from Užupis blended into the landscape and was activated through a series of events from May - October 2023.
The ruins of Lichtenfels Castle, which date back to the 13th century and serve as an exhibition space for the sculpture park, rise plinth-like from the Ottenstein reservoir. Before the lake was created in the 1950s, the castle ruins perched on a wooded granite cliff, high above the rural surroundings. Today, the reservoir and castle ruins are a popular tourist destination including a nature camping site as well as fishing grounds and dense woodlands. The sculpture park provides a space for dialogue between the history and present of the site and the rich interplay between nature and culture that characterizes it.