Claudia Märzendorfer
* 1969 in Vienna, lives and works in Vienna’s studios for sculpture Bildhauergebäude des Bundes.
Short version:
Märzendorfer studied from 1994 to 2001 at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and graduated in Sculpture with Bruno Gironcoli . In the 1990s, she began her work with casts made of frozen water / ice, a material that has accompanied her to this day. It gives the sculpture performative Character and expands it by the dimension of time. The disappearance of the object brings the process as the only constant function of existence into the focus of perception and emphasizes the importance of space and memory. In her work with other materials, Märzendorfer also repeatedly refers to this processuality by placing the process of creation in the center of attention. For example, over the course of eight years, she made handcrafted spare parts for a full-size truck. These sculptures particularly represent the socio-political aspect of her work, she understands this work as a private protest.
With her work Much Ado About Nothing (Frozen Records), her work gained international fame.
The artist sees the world as material and understands sculpture as a poetic concept of form. She works with installations, film as sculpture, photography, drawing, sound and text. Her work has a conceptual rigor and is often done in plain black and white. Märzendorfer works with analogue techniques in the digital age, deals with archives and makes site-specific installations.
Last solo exhibitions and installations: Kunsthaus Mürz (2020), MQ ART BOX (2020), Garage Kunsthaus Wien (2019), OK Linz (2019), at the Festival Wien Modern (2018) with the loan Mushroom Book of the John Cage Trust (New York), Singuhr Hörprojekte Berlin (2018), KM-H Graz (2017), MSU Maribor (2016). 2019, Claudia Märzendorfer was an Artist in Residence at the Centre of European Arts, Hellerau (D).
2023, Visual Art Price, City of Vienna.
2017, award: Gerhard und Birgit Gmoser Price, Jury of the Vienna Secession.
2014, award: Outstanding Artist Award, Federal Ministry Republic of Austria. 2010, State scholarship of fine arts, Federal Ministry Republic of Austria.