Claudia Holzinger
Claudia Holzinger is a visual artist whose work focuses on photography, installation, and performative self-staging. Her practice explores themes of body politics, gender roles, and societal expectations. Through meticulously constructed studio settings, she creates visual narratives in which she uses costumes and body paint to subvert stereotypical representations and open up unfamiliar visual worlds.
She studied graphic design and photography at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg. During her studies, she was part of the class led by Jürgen Teller, one of the most influential figures in contemporary photography. Echoes of Teller’s radically direct visual language can be felt in Holzinger’s work—though always in service of her own conceptually driven visual strategies.
Her work has received numerous accolades, including the German Photobook Prize (2019), the Jury Prize of the Dr. Rudolf Zorn Foundation (2024), the Bavarian Art Promotion Prize (2018), a USA grant from the Free State of Bavaria (2023), as well as project fellowships from the cities of Nuremberg and Erlangen. In 2020, she was nominated for the prestigious C/O Berlin Talent Award, and in 2019 for the German Design Award in the Newcomer category.
Since 2022, she has been part of the Department of Applied Photography and Time-Based Media at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
In addition to her solo practice, she is one half of the artist duo HOLZINGERurbat (since 2016, with artist Lilly Urbat), and a member of the collective femxphotographers.org (since 2018), which is dedicated to a multifaceted photographic discourse and particularly promotes alternative perspectives on the body, gender, and representation. Since 2020, Holzinger has also collaborated with artist Sophia Süßmilch under the duo name SÜSSHOLZ.
Claudia Holzinger lives and works in Buchbach and Vienna.
Artworks
Classic Design Chair: The Monobloc Claudia Holzinger1.900,00 €44,00 €/month 
Classic Design Chair: The Rietveld Chair Claudia Holzinger1.900,00 €44,00 €/month 
I want to be a cactus, ok in my natural form 1 Claudia Holzinger2.150,00 €49,00 €/month 
I want to be a cactus, ok in my natural form 2 Claudia Holzinger2.150,00 €49,00 €/month 
Pretzel Claudia Holzinger1.900,00 €44,00 €/month
Vita
Part of the artist duo SÜSSHOLZ with Sophia Süssmilch
Member of the independent collective Femxphotographers.org
Part of the artist duo HOLZINGERurbat with Lilly Urbat
Management Board | Curator of the independent art space Edel Extra e.V. | Nuremberg (GER)
Education
Diploma | Academy of Fine Arts | Nuremberg (GER)
Photography | Juergen Teller | Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg (GER)
Graphic Design | Prof. Oliver Kartak | University of Applied Arts Vienna (AUT)
Visual Communication (Prof. Felten | Prof. Girst | Prof. Mayfried) | Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg (GER)
Photo Assistant | Silke Deidl Images | Munich (GER)
TV Editor | Constantin Entertainment GmbH | Munich (GER)
Awards
Nomination C/O Berlin Talent Award | Berlin (GER)
German Photobook Award – Silver (GER)
Nomination German Design Award: Newcomer (GER)
Official Selection Make Art not Fear Film Festival | Porto (PRT)
Bavarian Award for the Advancement of the Arts: Artists as Curators with Edel Extra (GER)
Grants / Stipends / Residences
USA-Scholarship of the Free State of Bavaria (GER)
Popps Packing Studio Residency | Detroit (USA)
Grant | Stiftung Kunstfonds | Bonn (GER)
Project funding wirh HOLZINGERurbat | City of Nuremberg (GER)
Project funding with HOLZINGERurbat | City of Erlangen (GER)
Project funding with HOLZINGERurbar | Cultural Foundation Erlangen (GER)
Bayern Innovativ Scholarship (GER)
SYLA Residency Scholarship | Florida / Lothringer 13 | Munich (GER)
Tokonoma Exhibition Scholarship | Kassel (GER)
Baldreit-Scholarship of the City of Baden-Baden (GER)
Petrohradska Collective Residency Scholarship with HOLZINGERurbat | Prague (CZE)
Studio Scholarship of the City of Nuremberg (GER)
Erasmus + Stipend
Exhibitions (Solo)
Schlepplift | 1zwei3 | Vienna (AUT)
Flat Tire | Fresh Air | strobe | Tribeca | NYC (USA)
Gletscher | Tokonoma e.V. | Kassel (GER)
Today is tomorrow‘s yesterday | Sternschuppen | Berlin (GER)
I never wanted to be a sexsymbol | school | Vienna (AUT)
Pfffft....! | Edel Extra e.V. | Nuremberg (GER)
30 - Eine Ausstellung | Edel Extra e.V. | Nuremberg (GER)
MAMA | Edel Extra e.V. | Nuremberg (GER)
Exhibitions (Duo)
KunstNacht Kempten with HOLZINGERurbat | Kempten (GER)
Gathering of Myths and Muses with HOLZINGERurbat | Galerie Klatovy | Klenová (CZE)
GAMECHANGER with Hanna Kučera | Galerie Stephanie Kelly | Dresden (GER)
HOLZINGERurbat: Start Down | Galerie 207 | Prague (CZE)
HOLZINGERurbat: The official David Hasselhoff Fancruise | 1|2|3 Gallery | Prague (CZE)
Luther mi amor with Lara Sielmann | Edel Extra e.V. | Nuremberg (GER)
HOLZINGERurbat | Academy Gallery Nuremberg (GER)
Life is live with David Häuser | Die Weinerei | Nuremberg (GER)
Exhibitions (Group, selection)
Parallel Vienna Art Fair | Vienna (AUT)
Anti/Körper | Fotohof Salzburg (AUT)
LOVE YOURSELF FIRST with Femxphotographers.org | Museum Schloss Moyland | Bedburg-Hau (GER)
Magic Landscapes without Consequences | CIRCOLO | St. Ulrich (ITA)
als wäre ich du | Basis Projektraum | Frankfurt/Main (GER)
Archive of Southern German State Art | KREISGalerie | Nuremberg (GER)
Femxphotographers.org - Mom | I am a rich man | Kommunale Galerie Johannisthal | Berlin (GER)
Bei Langeweile öfter mal das ABC aufsagen | Galerie Krobath | Vienna (AUT)
Publications
AKADEMIE AKTUELL | 2024 Issue 1 (GER)
Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin #4 (GER)
Straßenkreuzer Magazin #30 (GER)
Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin #33 | #34 | #52 (GER)
C/O Vienna Magazine (AUT)
Femxphotographers Org - Mind over Matter | Hatje Cantz (GER)
Femxphotographers Org - The Body Issue | Hatje Cantz (GER)
„Ruiniert euch!“ | starfruit publications (GER)
AVISO Magazin | 02/20 (GER)
Annual Magazine #8 | Landesverband Bildender Kunst Sachsen (GER)
ISIT Magazine #002 (ITA)
GUT Magazine | Issue 5 (GBR)
MAMA Magazine | Issue 1 (GER)
VOGUE Magazine | 08/19 (GER)
PROFIFOTO Magazine | No.9 (GER)
COEVAL Magazine (USA)
PARCO Campaign (with Juergen Teller | M&M Paris) (JPN)
AISHTI Salamé Magazine (LBN)
SYSTEM Magazine | Issue 8 (GBR)
Collections
Collection of the City of Erlangen (GER)
Talks / Lectures
Talk | Cross-Disciplinary Strategies | University of Applied Arts Vienna (AUT)
Talk | University Mainz (GER)
Keynote 2022 | Kunst Galerie Fürth | Fürth (GER)
Talk | Applied Photography | University of Applied Arts Vienna (AUT)
The Body Issue | Kultur Kiosk | Stuttgart (GER)
The Body Issue | Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg (GER)
Netzwerkstecker | Politbande | Nuremberg (GER)
Talk with HOLZINGERurbat | UMPRUM | Prague (CZE)
Teaching
Univ. Assistant for Applied Photography and Time-Based Media (Prof. Maria Ziegelböck) | University of Applied Arts Vienna (AUT)
Workshops
Feminist School of Painting | Kunstpalais | Erlangen (GER)
14 vs. unknown I Survival Workshop in collaboration with Jana Barthel and Franziska Dittrich | Berlin (GER) (funded by Fonds Darstellende Künste)
Photography workshop in collaboration with Hanna Mattes and C/O Berlin (GER)
Photostories in collaboration with Raphael Unger and Bezirksjugendring Mittelfranken | Nuremberg (GER)