Planet Pammesberger
22.02.2025 – 01.02.2026
His line is precise, his wit astute: Michael Pammesberger’s caricatures get to the heart of politics and current affairs on a daily basis. A selection of his works portrays him as a chronicler of the last thirty years in illustrations.
A day without a Pammesberger caricature is certainly possible, but who wants that?
Caricaturist Michael Pammesberger has been drawing for major Austrian daily newspapers since 1992, and for the Kurier every day since 1997. In honor of his sixtieth birthday, the Karikaturmuseum Krems is dedicating a comprehensive exhibition to Pammesberger and his work.
Three Decades of Politics and Society
Planet Pammesberger presents a selection of his political caricatures from recent years, with a focus on current events in Austria. His drawings are ingeniously entertaining. Pammesberger likes to vary his pictorial ideas, with several images revolving around a basic theme. He enjoys highlighting the tragic and the humorous: for instance, he depicts top Green politician Sigrid Maurer and party chairman Werner Kogler as a middle-class married couple and the young (at the time) EU candidate Lena Schilling as a defiant teenager with a cell phone. Or FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl squeezed into a jar with Russians—is he too close to them?! The shortcomings, scandals, and big and small political affairs summed up in images: such works make you think, while the laughter gets stuck in your throat. This is caricature at its most beautiful and subversive best!
Caricature and Journalism
In addition to current politics, Pammesberger addresses general issues affecting society such as education, health, climate, and media. From cars and activism, to compulsory vaccination and conspiracy theorists—Michael Pammesberger captures the nuances of human affairs and transforms them into brilliant art. He eschews one-sided jokes. As a caricaturist, he is close to journalism. He likes to include himself in his caricatures, reflecting his role as a drawing chronicler. As in-house caricaturist at the Kurier, Michael Pammesberger enjoys the support of the editor-in-chief and has free reign in his work. This allows the creative quality of the caricature to develop in new ways every day, benefitting both the newspaper and its readers.
Illustrated Chronicles Since 1992
Michael Pammesberger was born on September 2, 1965 in Bad Ischl. He studied law in Salzburg, but his urge to draw was stronger. This led him to work as a cartoonist for the Oberösterreichische Nachrichten in 1992 and five years later for the Kurier. For almost two years, News magazine also published a large-format, color cartoon every week. Since 2017, Ueberreuter Verlag has published an annual satirical review of the year featuring his cartoons, and is also releasing the book Planet Pammesberger in 2024.
In addition to originals from his day-to-day output, the exhibition also presents early works from the late 1980s. Illustrated notes from a South American tour, pages from a travel journal, show a little-known side of the cartoonist
Curators: Gottfried Gusenbauer and Anna Steinmair