Caliber 12, 2022 - 2025

Pigment prints of a shot 4 x 5 inch negative
125 x 100cm

Subject, shot, image. The series 'Caliber 12' radically questions the photographic process. 4x5-inch sheet films were shot with a shotgun. The projectiles pierce the light-sensitive film and expose it at the moment of impact. What remains is a luminous silhouette. In this work, photography is not a representation, but the result of an action. This series examines the imaging process as something that is constructed subjectively. Photography is tied to reality by an invisible thread like no other medium. But how 'real' are these small glowing dots on the sheet film, and which of the images is the 'right' one? Fragments of time are amalgamated into a speculative moment.

Exhibition View: Atelier Augarten 2025

Minging Roots of Planets, 2025

How do we figure out what itʼs like to live on a planet? By now, we should know̶weʼve been practicing for thousands of years. The Stone Age, antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times feel like Pokémon evolution stages to me. And now, weʼre in the future. We have artificial intelligence, self-driving cars and drone warfare. But somehow it also feels like our inventories are beginning to turn against us. Gaia, once green and thriving, no longer seems to be on our side.

People talk about our relationship with "nature" as if stepping back would magically fix everything, like the tortoise and the elephant shaking hands again. But the real question remains: What is our actual connection to this planet. Is it us who have a planet, or a planet that has people. Itʼs strange̶not knowing if Earth is a wild wolf that needs taming or a cuddly puppy we should care for. Neither feels quite right when you realize that both my life and the life of my species are temporary.

With that in mind, the idea that we could ever truly learn how to live on a planet feels almost delusional. When I look out from my studio at all the satellite dishes and antennas, it all seems a little too “spaced out” here.
Through the objects I create I try to understand, what are the connections between the living and the non-living. So I link the technosphere, biosphere, and geosphere, forming a kind of network̶always reaching for new connections.

k23_artstudio, Exarchia 21. February 2025

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Circular Reset, 2025

Performance, 11 min
Theodora Vasileiadou, Philipp Hoelzgen

Dripping between spheres of existence, means coexisting with the ability to response to the surroundings and create novel conditions. Metachrosis1 is, what some animals use for their expression, protection and communication.
However, what other options could be developed to morph into a field of undefined knowing? Our way to find out, is to inhale the stimuli of hybrid beings, to melt, to response and then morph into undefined functions of fluid identities.

Foto: Theodora Vasileiadou

Level Zero, 2025

Soundperformance, 15min
Vasilia Georgiou, Philipp Hoelzgen

The horn blows to dig deeper. Deeper than we could ever imagine. Silence spreads until even the light becomes audible. Whispering photons swirl in infinite space and you begin to hear huge worlds colliding. Slowly they grind and fall apart. They dissolve into sweating, roaring, crackling voices.

Check out!

feat. Vogue Greece
Feb. Issue 2025

Cosmic Treatment, 2025

The Tourkovounia Mountains divide the north-east of Athens into the urban areas of Galatsi and Psychiko / Filotheio. Athenians visit the hills to walk their dogs, fly drones, drift, climb or have a family picnic. You can find burnt areas, fallen trees and dirt bike tracks. Artists spray gaffities on the rough walls of the quarry and goats graze where crystals grow out of the ground. It's a place where the unexpected comes together.
Over a period of several months I analysed visitors to this multi-dimensional space and created works using materials from the site.

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Cladding (ongoing)

gelatin silver print baryta, eylets, wood
210 x 100 x 60 cm

The work Cladding was created as part of an artist-in-residence programme in Salzburg. It depicts the façade of a shingled house. This technique was used in the past to protect the roof and weather side of a house from the elements. Larch timbers are split and attached to the house as overlaps. The cladding scales the building and makes it stand out. The wall, as the third skin of the body, protects and defines a living space, a property and a place of retreat. It is the boundary between private and public, immovable and precisely defined by contract.
By removing the wall from its original static form, it becomes a performative object that can be worn. The static appearance remains intact and makes people themselves more immobile. Beings create shells, clothes, houses built for an indefinite future. The thoughts and ideals of society harden and persist.

Bodies of Minds of Mental Objects (ongoing)

gelatin silver prints
variale sizes

The tension between body and mind can feel like a path split in two. Am I wearing a body? Or does my body contain a mind? The body, with its physical presence, grounds us in the material world, while the mind is a sphere of abstraction and imagination, the birthplace of ideas, dreams, memories and the very perception of reality.

How did humans discover this duality in the first place, and is it real? Somehow it seems to make sense only through language? I would like to think more about this, but it confuses me. So I grab my parcel and move on.

Fragil Handle With Care

Neck Care

Power Transmission

Photo: Daniel Hill ( Masc Foundation)

Thinking out too loud, 2024

imitation leather, eyelts
35cm x 15 cm x 25 cm

Thinking out loud is a dangerous situation because once a thought is put into words, it is difficult to take it back. Expressed thoughts create realities and can offend oneself and others.
The performative object deals with the everlasting dialogue with oneself in which thoughts are reflected, shaped and translated into language. We are constantly weighing up what is meant for the inner and outer world. When we think aloud, this boundary is broken and words burst out of us uncontrollably, regardless of the possible consequences.

The artificial leather boxing glove can be worn like a helmet. It is an extension of the body and transforms the head into a dangerous weapon. Eyes, mouth and nose are bound. You find yourself in a situation where you are helpless from the inside and seen as an aggressor from the outside

Photo Carlo Zapella

Photo: Johnny Linder

What you hide in the walls, 2024

The idea of dowels is not nearly as old as hanging pictures on walls, and they have accelerated the possibilities and mobility of pictures. At best, they remain hidden in the wall, or if they do become visible, they can be quickly spiked with toothpaste. But they follow their own logic and are the adapter between space and content. The small pins connect the space as an inner shell with the interior. They are variable in size and yet small. The plug is more than a material to be used. It varies in form, application and attitude. It constantly evolves and adapts to its environment.

Spreitzdübel: oder was die Welt im Innersten zusammenhält, 2024 Screenprint on Canvas, Eylets
Spring IV, 2024 Embossed mould made paper
Eckstein, Eckstein, alles muss versteckt sein, 2024, Plaster Emailpaint

Spreizduebel: oder was die Welt im Innersten zusammen hält, 2024,
Dito Space

Spring IV, 2024 , Dito Space

Eckstein, Eckstein, alles muss versteckt sein, 2024, Dito Space

Photo: Paula Kreuzer (from left. Hoelzgen, Linder, Mahlknecht)

This side Up, 2024

Interverntion in public space
Whitechapel, London

Up' is a concept based on seeing oneself as the centre of reference, which only applies in the context of the Earth. Outside the Earth, the idea of 'above' loses its meaning because it is tied to gravity. In a sense, 'up' only exists because it defines 'down'. The up arrow can be misleading - it seems to point upwards, but it actually means the starting point or origin.
Extending this concept to something larger, such as a house, shows how the placement of such arrows can rotate the building and redefine its orientation in space. In this way, the relationship of objects to direction and gravity is reconceptualised through the definition of coordinates.

This side Up, 2024

ASAP, 2024

Intervention in public space
Hernals, Vienna

ASAP is a phrase used in online communication. As soon as possible' is intended to persuade the recipient to do something as soon as possible. There is no deadline and no reason - a gesture of power. The oversized message is located at an intersection in Vienna. There is no rest here - everyone is trying to get to the next destination as quickly as possible. They are running, trying to catch a train or rushing to get home. The place seems like a non-place where you can't linger.

The writing above people's heads sets the agenda. Faster! Do it now! Urgent! As soon as possible is an expression used to stress people, but about what? What are the important issues these days that we need to reflect on and take action on as soon as possible?

ASAP, 2024

Hydro Harmonics, 2024

soundscape
3.43 min

The toilet flushes, the boiler hums and the shower runs. These sounds form the soundtrack of our everyday lives - familiar and yet often overheard, drowned out by the noise of our thoughts. In my work I explore what happens when we pay more attention to these sounds and perceive them not just as background noise, but as music.
The soundscape 'Hydro Harmonics' focuses on the everyday 'musical instruments' that we rarely pay attention to. Each household has its own unique soundscape, with its own rhythm, dynamics and motifs. The kettle, for example, emits an unmistakable crescendo that makes the house shake. We all play these instruments every day.
The work invites us to actively perceive the composition of dripping, rushing, splashing and bubbling. Every household has its own sound and offers the opportunity to explore it acoustically.

Vimeo Link

Nicht jeder Gedanke muss zu Ende gedacht, 2024

Intervention in public space
Landstraße (Bezirk), Vienna

The work shows a play of thoughts in German. "Not every thought has to be thought through to the end". In German language, the last word is missing and the mind completes the word without intending to. Similar to the concept of "Don't think about a blue elephant", the brain does not follow linguistic restrictions.

Completing a thought may seem logical, but it can also be absurd, because thinking is complex and does not follow the rules of language. You start thinking at birth and you stop thinking at the end of your life. People sometimes feel the need to finish a task they have started, but this is not always possible or necessary. The work shown in the public space questions the human urge to finish everything and to eliminate dissonance. It explores the idea of thinking beyond the formalities of language.

Nicht jeder Gedanke muss zu Ende gedacht werden, 2024

Thesaurus (ongoing)

gelatin silver print, analog collage
84 x 102 cm, 94 x 76 cm, 100 x 82 cm

The work shows an organising system from an oil paint box from the 1960s. The system kept the tubes of paint in place and prevented them from mixing.
The appearance of the material created a situation of separation. No matter what comes near this sculptural machine, it organises itself according to its own standards.
The object stands between organic and technological tendrils that intertwine like cogwheels, creating an impossible machine. The light sculpture becomes a silver, shimmering, constructed, monumental object. It is a machine that grows without use, taking root and claiming its place.

It is only through optical manipulation in the darkroom that such a floral machine becomes visible. The individual parts of the apparatus are optically assembled using the sandwich technique, interpolation and pseudo-solarisation.

Fibre Punk, 2023

gelatin silver print, eyelts
MUA: Eliana de Camargo
115 cm x 120 cm x 52 cm

The armor made of photographic paper shows the trunk of the floss silk tree. As a defense against predators, the plant develops many spines, especially when young. Nobody dares to climb on it. Equipped with its own water reservoir, the independent character tree survives any drought.

With the help of this suit of armor, one can acquire the attributes of the plant. Although it stiffens its own position, but protects through any crisis to bloom gloriously in the next season.

Foto Wien , 2023

Collecting Sharpness, 2023

modified tree, wood,thorns, cable ties, fan stand
120 cm x 100 cm x 210 cm

As the climate gets warmer and resources become more limited, leaves turn into thorns. At the beginning they are still soft and flexible, but as soon as the heat arrives, they harden and turn into a threatening weapon. Thorns not only serve as a defence mechanism, they also injure bystanders who carelessly step on them or cut themselves. The modified tree becomes dangerous, it has to fight for its position, and any method of defence can help. When I was in Greece, I collected thorns and attached them to a tree. This enabled me to give a peaceful tree the opportunity to defend itself. ‘Collecting Sharpness’ reflects the attitude of a society that changes when resources become scarce.

We came to an agreement, 2023

Intervention in public space
2.80m x 17m, Inner city, Vienna

WE CAME TO AN AGREEMENT does not specify who or what exactly came to an agreement. The only thing that is clear is that it is about at least two people who have come to an agreement, which is crucial for our society. Without cooperation and agreement, the welfare state, democracy, freedom and morality would not be possible. People have different ways of living, but eventually they must agree and work together to make progress. This project aims to provoke communication and participation. It's message is universal and still open to various ways of interpretation. Our aim is to engage a discourse and not stand by in disagreement.

"PLATYPUS" is a group of seven students from various classes at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. The group is named after the Australian Platypus, a unique egg-laying mammal with a poisonous sting that has a special position in evolution. It makes use of the multitude of nature and can thus react to all challenges of life. The main focus of the collaboration was not to create or display a single piece of art, but to work together as a team. How can we address current and possibly controversial issues and reach consensus progressively?

Group project by Platypus: Elisabeth Töltl, Elena Riener, Johnny Linder, Helene Slancar, Marcus Wagner, Philipp Hoelzgen

We came to an agreement, 2024 (group project)

After Heat Season, 2023

technical film
5 Leafs, 10 x 8 x 3cm

Die Arbeit wurde gezeigt in der Ausstellung 123 in Athen.

Infinity has two ends, 2022 (group of works)

gelatin silver print

The group of works is an exploration of infinity. With this abstract space, physics has created a place where even a galaxy of Salamis seems possible. How true can a reality be that we can never really understand? The sky has no limits.
It is more of a philosophical perspective than a space to be explored.
When Etienne Klein presented a photo of a chorizo as Proxima Centauri on Twitter in 2022, it was difficult to tell the difference from a real star. What does it mean for our view of space if a salami is as real as a star?

Artikel
French scientist Etienne Klein apologises after 'James Webb Telescope' image revealed as slice of chorizo

Neue Urformen der Kunst, 2021

gelatin silver prints, nails, magnets
140 x 130cm

The work takes up the idea of the 'living ornament', inspired by Karl Blossfeldt's photographic collection of plant forms, which characterised the aesthetics of Art Nouveau. While floral patterns were carved into stone in the architecture of the time, plants are now returning to the home as living elements. They are cared for like pets and collected like art.
Plants are no longer just decoration, but a link between man and nature. Houseplants grow in space as living ornaments.
The installation questions what architecture and art can mean in a changing world.

4 min, 2021

2.18 min, looped

We are constantly reminded that beauty and success ride the same wave. So it is only logical to invest. We build our capital with sweat and tears. Success is what the insights reveal. The 4-minute video performance invites the audience to participate. Beauty, success, health and capital melt together in a cult-like world of fitness.

It's a workout for all those who want to shake off their likes.

Vimeo Link

nature: aesthetic disorder, 2020

photobook, 64 Pages, 27 pictures

With the anthropocentric world view, which is already given to us in the Bible, man has extracted himself from nature and apparently placed himself above it. He has created an "environment" in which he differentiates himself from the "natural world".

Exhibtition Posters (selection)

Philipp Hoelzgen

Upcoming

Sept_25 Kunstraum St. Virgil, Salzburg Oct_25 Kunstverein Kombinage, ViennaOct_25 periscope, Salzburg

Currently: Kunstverein Augsburg

Philipp Hoelzgen

Upcoming

Sept_25 Kunstraum St. Virgil, SalzburgOct_25 Kunstverein Kombinage, Vienna Oct_25 periscope, Salzburg

Currently: Kunstverein Augsburg

Sept_25 Kunstraum St. Virgil, Salzburg
Oct_25 Kunstverein Kombinage, Vienna
Oct_25 periscope, Salzburg

Sept_25 Kunstraum St. Virgil, Salzburg
Oct_25 Kunstverein Kombinage, Vienna
Oct_25 periscope, Salzburg