Death Positive

We all die. Finally, one thing we can count on to have in common. And yet, we like to push death away – until suddenly, it is there. Close. Then the questions begin: What happens to the body? Who decides? How do we want to be buried? What brings us comfort?

Death Positive is not just an exhibition title, but a movement: it brings death into the heart of life and advocates for an open, informed approach to dying, death and grief. Because talking about dying has never killed anyone. Humour can help, too: it creates distance when something comes too close and makes it possible to talk about the inevitable.

The exhibition looks at bodies, rituals, law, religion, medicine and business, at farewell, grief and remembrance. From folding coffi ns to mushroom urns, from heart-stab to bucket lists, from funeral feasts to vinyl burials, it shows just how diverse our relationship with death can be.

Historical and contemporary artworks, installations, video interviews and objects from the collection and on loan take up the Memento Mori – the reminder of our own mortality. Linz, too, has its stories and places of death. Death Positive invites us to refl ect, empathise and pause. Because ultimately, it is not only about the dead, but about relationships, memory and life after loss.

Death is not the opposite of life. It is right in the middle of it. So let’s talk about it before it’s too late.