The jury of the St. Leopold Peace Prize, Klosterneuburg Abbey’ Art Award, consists of the Provost of Klosterneuburg Abbey as voting chairman, the custodian of the abbey’s art collections and at least four experts from the fields of art, media and sponsors, appointed by the abbey.
Wolfgang Huber
studied Commercial Science and Art History in Vienna. He has worked at Klosterneuburg Abbey since 1990 and has been curator of the Abbey’s art collections since 2016. He has vast experience on exhibitions and publications in the context of the Abbey Museum and is also a freelance exhibition curator (e.g. Lower Austrian Statel Exhibition “Feuer und Erde” 2007).
Herta Pümpel
is an art historian, curator and court-certified expert for Austrian Art after 1945. She studied Art History at the University of Innsbruck and worked at Kunstraum Dornbirn in the fields of curating, public relations and mediation. She has also worked independently as a curator. She is a long-time member of the Art Commission and member of the Advisory Board for Special Cultural Affairs of the Vorarlberg Provincial Government.
Franz Smola
studied Art History, Law and International Relations in Austria and abroad. Until 2009 he was curator at the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, from 2009 to 2017 curator of collections at the Leopold Museum in Vienna, where he held the position of interim museological director from 2013 to 2015. Since 2017, Franz Smola has been curator at the Belvedere. His research focuses on Austrian art of the 20th century and international classical modernism. He has contributed to numerous catalogues and is the author and editor of various publications.
Andreas Hoffer
is a cultural mediator. As a member of the StörDienst association in Vienna, he has helped develop the foundations of contemporary Austrian cultural mediation. Until 2016, Hoffer was senior curator and head of art education at the Essl Museum. Since 2017 he has been curator of Kunsthalle Krems and AIR – ARTIST IN RESIDENCE Lower Austria. His main focus is on the connection between exhibition design and mediation, as well as participatory models of visitor integration.
Philippe Batka
studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and has realised numerous exhibitions of contemporary art as an artist, curator and cultural manager. As part of the Vienna Insurance Group (VIG), he has dedicated himself as curator to the development of the corporate collections of Wiener Städtische and VIG’s main shareholder Wiener Städtische Versicherungsverein since 2012. Most recently, he curated “Selbstbestimmt ortlos.” at the Ringturm in Vienna and “Petition” at the Salzburg Kunstverein.
studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and has realised numerous exhibitions of contemporary art as an artist, curator and cultural manager. As part of the Vienna Insurance Group (VIG), he has dedicated himself as curator to the development of the corporate collections of Wiener Städtische and VIG’s main shareholder Wiener Städtische Versicherungsverein since 2012. Most recently, he curated “Selbstbestimmt ortlos.” at the Ringturm in Vienna and “Petition” at the Salzburg Kunstverein.
Claudia Aigner
was born in Villach and has studied German Philology and Art History in Vienna. She devotes herself to journalistic activities at various Austrian newspapers and is a regular columnist and art critic in the “Wiener Zeitung”.
