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Vienna’s gallery scene is facing a growing crisis, as a shortage of active collectors forces multiple spaces to close or fundamentally change how they operate. Two galleries, Zeller van Almsick and Exile, have announced they are shutting down, while others are restructuring amid rising costs and unreliable sales.
Long-Running Galleries Call It Quits
Exile is closing after approximately 18 years in operation. The gallery launched in Berlin in 2008 and relocated to Vienna a decade later. Founder Christian Siekmeier pointed directly to the collector problem. “There are simply no new collectors emerging,” he told The Art Newspaper. During its run, Exile represented both established artists such as Alvin Baltrop and Nathalie du Pasquier, and younger talents including David Gruber and Katharina Marszewski.
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Zeller van Almsick is also shutting its doors after a decade. Cofounder Magdalena Zeller did not hold back in her assessment. “There is no point in sugarcoating the fact that the past two years have been financially extremely challenging,” she said. The gallery had focused on younger Austrian artists, including Dejan Dukic, Carsten Fock, and Bianca Phos.
Others Restructure to Survive
Meanwhile, gallerist Emanuel Layr is taking a different approach. Rather than closing entirely, he announced in September that his gallery would go nomadic. He will, however, maintain a smaller by-appointment showroom in Vienna. Layr, who mounted his first show in 2011, initially said financial reasons played no part in the decision. He later offered a more candid view. “It’s harder to sell some things, costs are getting higher, then there’s a big art fair coming and taking another €100,000,” he told The Art Newspaper. His roster includes artists such as Julien Bismuth, Lili Reynaud-Dewar, and Leah Ke Yi Zheng.
These closures follow similar moves elsewhere. Zurich-based Eva Presenhuber confirmed in October that she is closing her Vienna outpost, which she had operated since 2022.
A Cultural Powerhouse With a Collector Gap
The situation is striking given Vienna’s strong reputation as an art destination. The city’s metro area is home to 2.9 million people and boasts a wealth of historical and contemporary institutions. Writing in 2025 after a dozen visits, Art in America’s Emily Watlington called it “Europe’s best art city.” However, Zeller noted a “significant gap” between Vienna’s cultural standing and the actual level of collector activity.
Longtime collector Eva Frey offered a clear explanation. She told The Art Newspaper that collectors in her age group, those over 70, are too few to sustain the city’s galleries. Furthermore, she said the 45 to 55 age group, once the primary driver of contemporary art buying, lacks enough people who are “established in a profession.”
Despite these pressures, some galleries are pushing back. A group of leading Vienna galleries joined forces to launch Astoria Artshow, a new art fair that held its first edition in September. The move came after difficulties at both Spark Art Fair Vienna and Vienna Contemporary, suggesting the local market remains contested but not yet abandoned.
