The Austrian Sculpture Park adds an important facet of contemporary art to the Joanneum Universal Museum portfolio. Founded in 2003, the purpose of the park is to show contemporary Austrian sculpture in an international context and the reciprocal relationship between nature, art and mankind. Art communicates here with the unique, subtle and yet distinctive landscaped setting designed by Swiss architect Dieter Kienast. The park and its more than 70 sculptures spotlight aspects of the history of sculpture, from classic anthropomorphic sculpture via the extension into furniture sculpture (and thus incorporation into ordinary life) to conceptual language works. The experience of time and space is explored in sundry materials, as are social topics in mutating or interactive exhibits. There are found objects, natural art works, landscape sculpture, garden sculpture, interventions, art as action – in short, the whole gamut of contemporary sculpture is there to be experienced.

Apart from the expansion of the collection and involvement in academic debate, visitor services, special guided tours and various one-off events are being developed under the aegis of curator Elisabeth Fiedler. In parallel, the unique ambience is available to organizers of cultural events and culturally-minded companies for events, receptions and presentations.