about
Maria Schneider (1992, Graz) is a multimedial visual artist living in Graz.
Her works deal with emotional processes and social issues and her own existence within them. She completed the photography and multimedia art class at the HTBLuVA Ortweinschule für Kunst und Design in Graz in 2011 and the masterclass for sculpture in 2017, with her final project being awarded a scholarship from the Kürbis Wies cultural initiative. The perception and observation of herself and her surroundings as well as site-specific work serve as the basis of her artistic work, which has already taken her to Croatia, Belgium, New York and Spain. In her works, she deals with the psyche as well as social pressure and the stimulation of discourse about existing social systems and structures. She invites viewers to explore the complexity of their own interior spaces and to trigger critical thinking and the questioning of their own position.
In her artistic creative process, she prefers to work impulsively and always tries to allow herself improvisational creative freedom in the implementation of conceptual works. The attraction of spontaneous invention out of the moment and at the same time perceiving and observing everything that happens around her serves her as a creative design element.
Her practice is multimedial and moves between installation, sculpture, film, photography, graphics, painting and sound. She is particularly concerned with the interface between installation and performative participation. However, she persistently tries to resist a precise categorisation of her works and expectations and therefore constantly expands her forms of artistic expression by exploring new techniques. She plays with the controlled loss of control that results from this in order to allow her own creativity its freedom and to continuously challenge herself anew.
She has been a member of the Grazer Kunstverein “ROTER KEIL” since 2015, where she currently also runs her studio. In 2020 she received the working scholarship for visual arts from the City of Graz, and in 2023 the abroad scholarship for visual arts and film from the City of Graz.
Exhibitions, artistic activity, grants and artist residencys:
2025
° Keil Gallery, international artists group exhibition “Monstrous - a collective refusal to be small”, sculpture “Hystera...or how the myth of the wandering womb helped to supress women for centuries”, photo series and poem "I am", phot collage for the Flyer and Zine in collaboration with Anna Sommer participation/planning/design of the group artwork for the exhibiton and 8th march demonstration
° Keil Gallery, photo exhibition “Herbert Schneider - Retrospektive”, curation
2024
° MUSAO Kunsttankstelle Ottakring Wien, group exhibition “a body to take”, curation and works "some type of skin", "untitled NY sculpture"
° Keil Gallery, group exhibition “SERGE”, Assemblage “the self”
° Keil Gallery, BIAS Flinta* artproject Dresden exhibition, painting “it keeps happening”
2023
° artist residency in the LoPati artcenter Terres del Ebre, Spanien
° abroad scholarship for visual arts and film from the City of Graz for the Projekt “lands of earth” together with Lluís Martínez
° HDLU Zagreb/Croatia, Maestrović Pavillon, exhibition “artists for education”, painting “selfportrait”
° “KEIL Gallery” Graz, group exhibition, collective spatial installation and sound performance in collaboration with Lluís Martinez
2022
° Vienna Artweek “house of challenging orders”, short film “dehumanisation” ° artist residency New York in collaboration with Brussels-based graphic designer and animator Fabien Rousseau, Illustration for the music duo C.O.R.N! ° BIAS FLINTA* Projects Dresden, group exhibition “Roleplay”, spatial installation “Trieb”
° “next” Association for Contemporary Art, landart project “wood and stone”
° Gallery UNLOCQ53 (BE) - Marin Kasimir, screening “dehumanisation” and “home”
° Brussels artist residency, presentation in Graz with exhibition “fragile”, Griesplatz5
° Schaumbad Graz “gift - Reflexions on closeness and dependency”, assemblage
° Kombüse Graz porthole, “wa²ch” sculptural installation
° Cafe Wolf, Film screening “dehumanisation” and “home”
Griesplatz 5 group exhibition “they asked totally useless questions”, painting “out of the blue”
° Belgiergasse alcove, “Begegnungszonen”, permanent installation
2021
° “ROTER KEIL” gallery, room installation “TRIEB” in cooperation with textile artist Belinda Winkler in the context of the exhibition “HETZ”
° Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb/Croatia, lecture at the academy and leadership of a landart-workshop in the Velebit mountains
° KiG! - Culture in Graz, part of “walk the line” - city walks with artists, “_ziergang”
° “next” Association for Contemporary Art, installation “Shrine”, assemblage “S.T.R.E.A.M.”, part of the landart project “SOURCES - QUELLEN” in Seckau ° Kunsthalle Graz, installation “Stone in focus” for the exhibition “part of the game”
2020
° “KEIL Gallery” Graz, group exhibition for the opening of the association’s own gallery, collages “new buildings crash into cities like giant cruise ships” and “procrastination”
° association for contemporary art, Installation “No. 544” for the exhibition “IN SUSPENSE ALBEIT UNINTENTIONALLY—RATHER ACROBATIC” ° KiG! - Culture in Graz, collage “procrastination”
° Scholarship for visual arts of the city of Graz
° Luise Kloos Erasmus+ project with Croatian art students, mentoring students
° “second room” art café and utopia, mirror installation 2019
° KiG! - Kultur in Graz, mirror installation at the Queerograd Festival
° “Lenwirbel” Graz, “KEILEIDOSCOPE” performance Styronauten and “ROTER KEIL”
° “Kürbis” Wies cultural initiative, stage design for the play “Odyssey”
° Galerija Karas Zagreb, group exhibition “Artists as Mentors”, drypoint etching “Egnul”
2018
° Cultural initiative “Kürbis” Wies, scholarship, room installation “verschachtelt” (nested)
° Music video for “Bird of the year - Elevator”
° Kunsthaus Weiz/Steiermarkhof Graz/Kristallwerk graz/MUMOK Vienna, stage design for “Der Frackzwang” a play by Günther Brus realised by “das Planetenpartyprinzip”
° Designmonat Graz/Rostfest, “Desain” - interactive sculptures in collaboration with the group “some designers”
2017
° Ortweinschule Graz, presentation of the final projects of the master classes, room installation “lost and found”
° space interim use and exhibition of “ROTER KEIL” in former BAN-Recycling Shop Graz
2016
° “Lendwirbel” Festival Graz, “Art in a Cage” during the festival with “ROTER KEIL”
° Gotische Halle Graz, exhibition “Opus Cuneigenum” with “ROTER KEIL”, room installation
2015
° “Rostfest” in Eisenerz, art symposium with art association “ROTER KEIL”
2011
° City Hall Graz Photo Gallery, photo series
° Lendl Gallery Graz, part of the exhibition “Young Photography from Styria”