Central to his practice is a fascination with how we cover, disguise and extend the body in response to environmental and social conditions. Rather than treating technologicel inventions as a counterpoint to planetary developements, he views it as a medium through which new modes of inhabiting the world can be imagined. A recurring element in Hoelzgen’s work is the creation of costumes from analogue photographic paper. This light-sensitive material, coated with silver salts, embodies the duality of photographs: their fragility and their permanence. These wearable sculptures act as camouflage, enabling the body to blend into its surroundings while also influencing posture, gesture and movement. In this way, they become active agents in defining the relationship between body and space.
Hoelzgen’s work often incorporates botanical motifs, technological remnants, and found materials from both organic and synthetic environments. Through transformative processes, these elements fossilize into hybrid forms that carry traces of adaptation and separation, pointing toward speculative futures. Hoelzgen’s work operates at the intersection of preservation and distinction—poetic, tactile, and deeply attuned to the shifting landscapes we inhabit.
Philipp Hoelzgen is currently studying Fine Arts at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. He holds a degree in Mass Media and Communication Science, and is a graduate of the School of Artistic Photography in Vienna. In 2025, he undertook a research residency in Athens, focusing on masks as interfaces between the body and objects on a planetary scale. His work has been shown at Fotohof Salzburg (2024), the Austrian Cultural Forum London (2023), Das Weisse Haus in Vienna (2025) and the Kunstverein Augsburg (2025). It has also been featured as part of the Foto Wien Biennale and has been published in Vogue Greece.
2025 Research Stay Athens,
Supervision by Nikos Arvanitis
Athens School of Fine Arts
2024 International Summeracademy of Fine Arts
mentored by Pascal Petignat
2021 - still Diploma: Fine Arts, Gabriele Rothemann
University of Applied Arts Vienna,
2020 - 2021 School for artistic Photography, Vienna
mentored by Anja Manfredi
2017 - 2021 Mass Media & Communication Science BA.
University Vienna
2025 Athens (GR), Keramikos23
2024 Salzburg (A), St. Virgil
2025 Project Grant
Bildrecht, Vienna
2025 Research Grant, Athens
University of applied Arts, Vienna
2024 International Summeracademy of Fine Arts
Scholarship: Society of Friends
2023 Special Project Grant
Austrian Student Union
2023 Special Project Grant
HUFAK, Student Union
2022 Incentive Grant
University of Applied Arts
Upcoming
Kunstverein Kombinage, Foto Wien, (A)
Kunstraum St. Virgil, Salzburg (A)
periscope, Salzburg (A)
2025
Augsburger Kunstverein (D)
Spectrum Metallic, OKP 3. Floor, Vienna (A)
Exhibition Part 1, Keramikos 23, Athens (GR)
24 1/2, Atelier Augarten, Vienna (A)
Rethinking Headgear, Handwerksmuseum Deggendorf (D)
Video of the Month, Das Weisse Haus, Vienna (A)
(Solo) Mining Roots of Planets, K23_artstudio, Athens (GR)
Cosmic Treatment, Landscape Exhbibition, Tourkovunia (GR)
2024
Beyond the Lens , masc foundation - Rotlicht Festival, curated by Daniel Hill, Vienna (A)
Contact and Scale, Fortress Hohensalzburg, curated by Pascal Petignat, Salzburg (A)
Material Dreams, Angewandte Festival, Vienna (A)
hoffentlich wenigstens, Dito, Vienna (A)
A Poem Is Being Written, Universitätsgalerie der Angewandten im Heiligenkreuzerhof, Vienna (A)
Wolf Suschitzky Fotopreis, Fotohof Salzburg (A)
Harmlessly contagious, OK-Transit, curated by Tsai-Ju Wu, Expositur Paulusplatz, Vienna (A)
This side up, Intervention in public space, London (UK)
Stofflichkeit, Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Vienna (A)
Observing Systems, Dito, curated by Günther Selichar, Vienna (A)
2023
Im Augenblick Gefangen / Capturing the Moment, Austrian Cultural Forum, London (UK)
WE CAME TO AN AGREEMENT, Billboard Installation, Group Project, Vienna (A)
chamber of secrets, Kunstraum OK 3rd floor, Vienna (A)
Kopfverlängerung, Angewandte Festival, Vienna (A)
Wired Realities, Trumpeldor Gallery, Beer Sheva, Israel (IL)
TBH - to be honest, Advertising pillar on a public square in Vienna, Foto Wien, Vienna (A)
Look, a thorn blossoms!, Intervention in public space, Vienna (A)
LAUGH, LAUF, LIMES - painting with a backpack on, Kunstraum Schwaz, Schwaz (A)
TIME OUT I, Circuits and Currents, Athens (GR)
Projection d‘illusions, Filmkoop, Vienna (A)
2022
WHEREVER, OFF Festival, Bratislava (SK)
37 THINGS I CARRY, Safehouse 1, London (UK)
Zustandsgesteuert, Angewandte Festival, Vienna (A)
FotoTOPOS, Angewandte Festival, curated by Philipp Goldbach, Vienna (A)
Stones in a Glasshouse, Foto Wien 2022, Vienna (A)
Photobook Market, Foto Wien 2022, Vienna (A)
2021
Fleisch und Stein, Popup Group Exhibition, Vienna (A)
Together /AND apart, Fotogalerie Wien, Vienna (A)
Vogue Greece
Photography Lies, Steidl
Kuba Paris