BIOGRAPHY

Katharina Bayer, born in 1987 in Gmunden, Austria, is currently based in Leipzig. She studied architecture at the Technical University of Graz, Fine Arts at the Zurich University of the Arts and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Film at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig under Clemens von Wedemeyer and Mareike Bernien. Her work has been exhibited at the ICA London, the Folkwang Museum in Essen, and the SITE Galleries in Chicago, among others.

ABOUT

My works are an exploration of time, memory, and the ephemeral nature of existence. I am interested in the intersections of history, technology, and cultural memory. Through the media of film and photography, I seek the dialogue between the past and present, the tangible and the intangible. In my works I interweave my interest in architectural ruins and obsolete technologies to examine their influence on the present and to question the construction of history. This results in audiovisual reflections that invite the viewer to examine the subtle details of their living environment. A central aspect of my artistic research approach is the exchange in collaborations.

NEWS

3 May 2025, 5:00 PM: Lichtburg Kino, Oberhausen
World premiere of A PROVENANCE at the German Competition
71.International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Germany

SCREENINGS

09.01.2025
RESONANCE in: Landvermessung#1
Film Archiv Austria: Metro Kinokulturhaus Vienna, Austria

12.11.2024
RESONANCE in: Yes & No presents Austrian Artist Film: Programme 2
The Institute of Contemporary Arts ICA London, England

28.10.+29.10.2024
RESONANCE in: Short Film Program 7: Vibrations
Viennale'24 International Film Festival, Vienna, Austria

29.09.2024
ROCKET in: Cloudwards: Waiting is a Dreaming
Peripheries Experimental Film & Video Festival: Sweet Void Cinema, Chicago, USA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2018
In the Wabash Window, SITE Galleries, 37 S Wabash Ave, Chicago, USA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS / SCREENINGS

2024
Dokumentale'24 International Documentary and Media Festival Berlin, Festivalzentrum D'24 Kantstraße, Berlin,  Germany
2023 
Images of Research, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden SKD, Japanisches Palais, Germany
Sorry, I have to leave, European Media Arts Festival EMAF Campus 2023, Kunstraum Hase 29, Osnabrück, Germany
2022
«Schöne, entrückte Welt», ​Visarte Zentralschweiz, Kornschütte Luzern, Switzerland
Architekturikonen neu gesehen, Pavillon Le Corbusier, Museum für Gestaltung, Zurich, Switzerland
DSCH I+II, Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, Germany
2021
The Wolf Suschitzky Photography Prize Exhibition - Life in 2020, Austrian Cultural Forum London, England
2020
Common Ground, Salzburger Kunstverein, Austria
2019
Zine in Tokyo, POST Bookstore, Minami-Ebisu Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan
Diplome19, ZHdK Diploma Show, Exhibition Space BKM, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland
2018
ZHdK Highlights, Galerie 2, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland
The Photographic, UG im Folkwang, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
2016-2017
Schweizweit, S AM Swiss Architecture Museum, Basel, Switzerland
Schweizweit, AIT Architektur Salon, München, Switzerland
Schweizweit, Arc-en-Rêve - Centre d‘architecture de Bordeaux, France

GRANTS / NOMINATIONS

2021
Starting Grant Media Art 2021 and Mentoring Programme 2022, BMKÖS & Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria
Work Scholarship Covid-19 by the City of Zurich
2019
Promotion of Aspiring Artists in Photography by Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council
2018
ZHdK Highlights 2018 by Zurich University of the Arts

BOOKS

2021
JapanRevisited202x: then-now-after, Austrian Cultural Forum Tokyo, Japan
(ISBN 978-4-9911767-0-8)
Identität der Architektur, IV. Konstruktion, Beitrag Beitrag von office haratori, office winhov 
Verlag: Walther König (ISBN 978-3-96098-883-0)
2020
Swiss Performance 2020, archithese, no.1 (March 1.2020): 46-59, Christina Horisberger, Zeit ist Luxus., Zurich
Verlag: Verein pro archithese (ISBN 978-3-03862-246-8)
2016
Schweizweit, SAM Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum (Hg.), Andreas Ruby, Viviane Ehrensberger, Stéphanie Savio
Verlag: Christoph Merian Verlag (ISBN-13: 978-3-85616-814-8)

ONLINE EXHIBITIONS / PUBLICATIONS

2021
Virtual Exhibition: Wolf Suschitzky Photography Prize 2020 by the Austrian Cultural Forum London
2020
JapanRevisited202x: then-now-after, Austrian Cultural Forum Tokyo, Online Exhibition, accessed September 9, 2020 
2019
Photographer Spotlight: Katharina Bayer, Selection by Editors, booooooom, accessed April 19, 2019  
2018
Guest-Room, Selection by Urs Stahel, Der Greif, accessed November 22, 2018

COMMISSIONS

2019-2020
Commission for a Photographic Essay, Verein pro archithese (ed.), Swiss Performance 2020, archithese,
March 1.2020: 46-59, Zurich