Philipp Hoelzgen






Upcoming:  2026

April - September    St. Virgil, Salzburg
June - December     Haus des Papiers Berlin

Unstoppable Yesterdays

25 October - 21 November 2025
periscope:, Salzburg Austria


Unstoppable Yesterdays brings Jurij Hartmann and Philipp Hoelzgen together for the first time in a joint project. Their work explores how the past remains present in materials, objects, and surfaces. Some things gain value with change and age, while others decay and lose their meaning. The exhibition space functions as a large shop window that reveals traces of use, wear, and change. Materials carry both personal and collective stories. Visitors see how fragile our notions of value and memory can be and how the past asserts itself even when it seems to have disappeared.

Super Safe, 2026



The helmet Supersafe transforms the principle of a welder’s mask into a textile darkroom. Through a red light visor, the surroundings are reduced to a monochrome and monotonous perception. This visual isolation creates a sharpened vantage point that radically shifts the focus toward acoustic clarity and immediate detail. The blackout fabric references high tech fiberglass used in industrial furnaces. These materials do not just cover the body but actively shape our planetary perspective. As a technological interface, the object becomes a tool for an isolated yet heightened presence within the space.


Blackout Acrylic Fabric, Darkroom Safty Glass
35 x 25 x 15 cm

Click Clack, 2026



The installation Click Clack navigates power dressing as a raw gesture of claiming spatial presence. Hanging from hanger-like constructs, two empty suits stride through the room - almost ghostly. An audio track of old shoes clicking loops through the air, charting a presence coming and going. The work questions: How much acoustic space does one own?

Insulation Jacket, 2026



Dressing up for work. The Insulation Jacket exists at the interface of human anatomy and mechanical workwear. High Temperature Steam & Flame Resistance Hook-and-eye closure with corset lacing Heavy insulation material for vibrating bodies Protection of surrounding components Application-specific insulation Where bodies reach their limits, machines take over. It is a successful attempt to cast thought and action processes into a physically static form. They perform the labor we require for survival. The work opens a space in which man and machine blur as ambivalent beings. Between garment and component, a moment emerges in which static humming resembles a breath.

Silverlamee, Polyester fabric, Polyester vlies, Stainless Steel Lace
60 × 79 × 20 cm

Thesaurus, 2022- ongoing



Thesaurus is a series of speculative machines rooted in a paint box belonging to my grandfather. I translated this personal system into sculptures that mirror botanical growth. Order here is not a static human invention but a restless negotiation between all living beings. By overlapping different systems, these objects function like gears to dictate specific movements. They are ordering machines that reflect on their own logic as they reconstruct and build themselves again.

Silver gealtin Prints
Variable Sizes

Silhouettes of Terraforming

September -  November 2025
studio photos


The series of works titled 'Silhouettes of Terraforming' explores how humans shape their environment and social reality through architectural interventions. Starting with alpine shingle houses, whose wooden façades turn silvery over time, a series of photographic sculptures and 'costume-like' objects was created. These works address the transition between humans and spaces, interiors and exteriors, and the relationship between individuals and their environments.  

    FIBRE PUNK, 23

    Foto Biennale  FOTO WIEN 2023
    Institute for Art History 2024


    Fibre Punk is a sculptural garment made from baryta photographic paper, printed with an image of the thorns of the floss silk tree (Ceiba speciosa). In its early years, the tree develops dense spines to protect itself from predators, making it unclimbable. Equipped with its own water reservoir, it endures droughts with remarkable resilience. Transformed into a wearable “armor,” these botanical qualities are symbolically adopted: a stance that may be rigid, yet provides the strength to survive crises and bloom again in the next season.

    Gelatin silver print, Eyelts
    115 x 120 x 52 cm

    Makeup and  Portrait Photo: Eliana de Camargo

      Still life burned

      published in  Vogue Greece


      Still life burned shows a thorn bush scorched by fire. During heatwaves these plants usually harden their thorns into armor. But then the fire arrives and every thorn is lost. It mirrors a world where everyone raises their guard as the heat rises until the intensity becomes so great that every defense is destroyed.

      Published in Vogue Greece 2024.

        Ancient masks and other Interfaces

        Keramikos23, Athens, 2025


        During my residency in Athens, my practice shifted from the archive into the physical landscape of the city. Inspired by ancient Greek masks and artifacts, I began exploring the costume as a raw interface between the body and its environment.

        A central part of this process took place on Mount Tourkovounia, which I used as an open-air studio for several months. Working in this unregulated public space allowed me to create land art and exhibitions directly on-site, reshaping my understanding of the 'commons'—public space not as a void, but as a shared, lived realm.

        In Athens, I also began producing my own pigments from the charcoal of burned forests, binding them with shellac and experimenting with gilding techniques learned from a local icon painter. For me, charcoal and the act of burning are more than materials; they represent a cycle of destruction and renewal that now informs my planetary perspective on art.

        Portrait Photo: Theodora Vasileiadou

          Mining Roots of Planets

          Keramikos23, Athens, 2025


          We have spent thousands of years practicing how to live on a planet. History feels like Pokémon evolution stages leading us to a future of artificial intelligence and drone warfare.  I wonder if we possess the Earth or if the Earth possesses us. From my studio I watch the satellite dishes and antennas. My work links the technosphere, biosphere and geosphere to form a network. I create objects to understand the thin lines between the living and the non-living

          Portrait Cicada: Theodora Vasileiadou

          Circular Reset, 2025

          Performance, 11 min
          Theodora Vasileiadou, Philipp Hoelzgen


          Level Zero, 2025

          Soundperformance, 15min 
          Vasilia Georgiou, Philipp Hoelzgen
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            Philipp Hoelzgen
            Einsiedlerplatz 12/2
            1050 Vienna
            Austria

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            Stand: August 2025


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