<nettime> FAREWELL: ,Franz XAVER, 1956 – 2026

[Felix Stalder via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>]

It is with a heavy heart that I let the machine translate this beautiful 
farewell to Franz Xaver, to put it here on nettime, one of the many 
places where it belongs.

As the friends from Stadtwerkstatt put it, he was a cosmos onto himself, 
a real "artist's artist", not interested in art as a system or a career, 
but as a practice of radial inquiry into the present. Always at the 
heart of many networks and collective projects inspiring countless 
people, probing the stratosphere, navigating rivers, exploring the media 
sphere and the fundamentals of mathematics.

A good friend, a radical in an uniquely Austrian way, open to the word, 
this one and the next one.

Felix




THE STADTWERKSTATT SAYS FAREWELL

Franz XAVER, 1956 – 2026

https://newcontext.stwst.at/xav-entropia

Franz XAVER, artist, citizen of the world, punk at heart, former 
director of the Stadtwerkstatt, friend, ally, and comrade-in-arms, has 
passed to the other side of time. He faced his death on October 1, 2026, 
with great determination and clarity.

Franz XAVER, born in Eferding, Upper Austria, studied visual 
communication at the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna. He subsequently 
taught computer programming, audiovisual production, electronics, and 
electrical engineering there until 1992. He taught communication theory 
at Graz University of Technology. From an early age, he participated in 
numerous media art exhibitions both at home and abroad. From 2003 to 
2007, Franz XAVER was director of the Media Art Lab at the Kunsthaus 
Graz. From there, he moved to the Stadtwerkstatt in Linz in 2008, which 
he directed until 2020.

Franz XAVER was a media artist from the very beginning. His artistic 
ties to the Stadtwerkstatt dated back to the 1980s. He always carried 
himself as a cosmopolitan. “Living the Life” was never just an empty 
phrase for him. He worked with numerous colleagues and leading figures 
in the scene, in a wide variety of project constellations.

As a punk at heart, it was easy for him to switch between abstract 
thinking and concrete planning. As an information theorist, he drew 
inspiration from the cosmic dimensions of physics and the irrational 
number systems of mathematics.

As a relentless DIY tinker, he worked with everything from electronic 
components to everyday objects. Both wild and caring, he was interested 
in the big questions, maintaining numerous relationships with allies and 
companions.

At the Stadtwerkstatt, he established the New Art Contexts program and 
created extensive infrastructure along the waterfront. Through his new 
media art, he played a decisive role in shaping the Stadtwerkstatt for 
years, far beyond the borders of Linz. Until the very end, his focus was 
on self-sufficient and autonomous workspaces for art and culture, on 
free, independent perspectives on the information society—and on digital 
playgrounds designed to explore new paths. Until his death, the 
Stadtwerkstatt was his greatest concern—its history and its 
significance—in the face of old-fashioned narrow-mindedness and new 
forms of conservatism of all kinds.

Franz XAVER was combative wherever discussions promised insightful 
debates—and at times, in an iridescently irrational way, where excessive 
rationality threatened to give birth to monsters.

Franz XAVER was in a class of his own—and a universe unto himself. Even 
in the face of his own death, he wanted to celebrate life.

To put it in his own words:

Franz XAVER has crossed over to the other side of time. Entropy has 
enveloped him.

We bid farewell to Franz XAVER, our friend and ally.

The public farewell will take place on Friday, October 9, at 9:00 a.m., 
at the Urnenhain in Urfahr.

Following that, there will be a celebration at the Stadtwerkstatt 
starting around 11:00 a.m., with food and drinks for everyone who would 
like to attend.




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