Veronika Merklein (*1982) is a German performance and photo artist, political activist and author, located in Vienna, Austria.
EDUCATION / STAY ABROADS
2007 - 12 Fine Art studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (AT) with a focus on Performance Art
2004 - 07 Fine Art studies at the School of Art and Design Kassel (DE)
2025 Preview: Artist in Residence, Cité internationale des arts, Paris (FR) - Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport (AT)
2024 Preview: Artist in Residence, MASSIA, Massiaru (EE)
2023 Artist in Residence, Popp's Packing, Detroit (US)
2022 Artist in Residence in Artscape Gibraltar Point, Toronto (CA)
2014 / 2015 Artist in Residence in Chicago (US), Austrian Federal Cultural Ministry (AT)
2012 Traineeship within the artistic-scientific project archiv performativ, Zurich University of the Arts (CH)
2002 - 03 Backpacking in Australia and Indonesia
GRANTS / COLLECTIONS / MEDIA COVERAGE
- Austrian State Grant for Fine Arts, Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Public Service and Sports (AT)
- Travel fund Austrian Cultural Forum Ottawa (CA / 2022) and project funding by the Austrian Federal Cultural Ministry (AT / 2022)
- 1. prize Weight Stigma Conference (Poster, Prague, 2017 / Lecture, Berlin, 2022)
- Project funding by the City of Vienna and by the Austrian Federal Cultural Ministry (AT / 2020) and the district Josefstadt, Vienna (AT / 2021)
- Project funding and bilateral artist exchange between Dublin (IE) - Vienna
- by the Austrian Federal Cultural Ministry (AT / 2014, 2015, 2019)
- Project funding by the Austrian Cultural Forum New York City (US / 2015)
- Abundia Empowerment Fund scholarship, Chicago (US / 2014)
- Project funding of the Diplom thesis Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen (You forgot the colour film) by the Federal Ministry for Science and Research AT / 2012)
- Project fundings by the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the Austrian Student Union (AT / 2009, -10, -11, -12)
- Creative Writing Class, annual Authors‘ Support Programme, Schauspielhaus Vienna and UniT Graz (AT / 2010)
Represented in private collections in Germany, Austria and the USA, public collection: City of Vienna (AT) and the State of Austria
PROJECTS / WORKSHOPS / LECTURES / TEXTS (selection)
PJ = Project, W = Workshop, L = Lecture, T = Text
since 2017
Publications in BILDPUNKT, Vienna (AT)
2022
Von A wie Adipositas bis Z wie Zucker – Apostils of Fat Studies, Transkript (DE) _T
2021
Casual Encounters—Catalyst: Cindy Baker, Catalyst Book Series (US) _T
2020
FAT ART, DFG network Fat Studies - Doing, Becoming and Being Fat (DE) _L
Fat acceptance and antidiscrimination, Ästhetikreferat Uni Wuppertal (DE) _L
2018
Performance, Essen, Körperbilder (Performance, food, body images), Workshops at Stellwerk Weimar and in the framework of the festival Sommerfrische Böhlen (DE) _W
Riots Not Diets, documentary, Director: Julia Fuhr Mann _PJ
2016
PAS #47 - Performance Art Studies - Co-Workshopleitung mit BBB Johannes Deimling, Wien (AT) _W
CurVienna - Plus-size fashion market & talk with Virgie Tovar, organisation with Bobby Hermann-Thurner and Rhea Krcmàrovà, Vienna (AT) _P
2014
Torvald, theatre play (excerpts), Das Gut-Ensemble, TAG, Vienna (AT) _T
2011
PANik3 - Performance as documentation, Performance evening with discussion - organisation and moderation withThomas Geiger, Performance Art Network Vienna, depot, Vienna (AT) _PJ
Die kleinen Tode vor dem ERROR (The little deaths before the ERROR), story in „Verhältnisse“, Band II „Zusammenbruch“, Turia + Kant, Vienna (AT) _T
Tatsachenbericht (factual report), Article in the catalogue “Performing Memory” Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Vienna, 2011 (AT) _T
2010
PHLEGMA-LOOP, scenic reading of Katharina Vana, Schauspielhaus Vienna (AT) _T
Performance 2, „ “, “This Sentence is Now Being Performed”, die bildende 06, 2010, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna Magazine (AT) _T
ARTISTIC PROJECTS (selection)
S = solo show, G = group show, P = performance,
D = performative dinner, F = film screening
2024
Preview: Fett in der Medizin - Gesundheit vor Gewicht? (Fat in the medical world - Health before weight), Brick 15 (AT) _P
Preview: WU Gender and Diversity Conference 2024, University of Economics Vienna (AT) _P
2023
konform-NON-konform / faces of a new time, Städtische Galerie Nordhorn (D) _G
Parallel Vienna, Vienna (AT) _S
Parc/ours, Mönchengladbach (D) _G
We are back & scratching on the surface, gallery michaela stock, Vienna (AT) _G
Meal, Dom Museum, Vienna (AT) _G
2022
FAT Life, Vienna Art Week, Vienna (AT) _P
Meal, Dom Museum, Vienna (AT) _G
Luminous Bodies, Artscape Gibraltar Point, Toronto Island (CA) _G
A fat person goes to the doctor, Weight Stigma Conference, Humboldt University Berlin (DE) _P
Garden Eden (with E. A. Sattler) in the framework of Pickle Bar, Wiener Festwochen, Spitzer, Vienna (AT) _P
The Fatter The Better, SPARK-Fair, gallery michaela stock, Marxhalle Vienna (AT) _S
2021
Der wunde Punkt (The sore spot), Salon Real / Virtual, gallery michaela stock, Wien (AT) _S
Circus Salto Morale, public space, Kultursommer Wien & as part of Circus Sodomelli, Vienna (AT) with Barbara Ungepflegt _P
Chocolate weighing machine in the framework of the festival Banal Complexities, Philomena+, Vienna (AT) _P
2020
No Pity!, gallery michaela stock, Vienna AT) _G FAT Life, Every Body In-Festival, Reaktor, Vienna (AT) _P
Deep States, Nun's Island Theatre, Galway (IE) _G
2019
Equilibrium in the framework of the EMBODIMENT / capture performance focus: IRELAND, gallery michaela stock, Vienna (AT) _G, P
2018
Pin me up - turn me around, gallery michaela stock, Vienna (AT) _G
Emotional Journey, Bildraum Bregenz (AT) _G
2017
DIE HARD, gallery michaela stock, Wien (AT) _S, P
Liebevolle Schimpfwörter (Affectionate Terms of Abuse), gallery michaela stock, Wien (AT) _G
23. Gabrovo Biennial of Humour and Satire in Art, Museum House of Humour and Satire, Gabrovo (BG) _G
Frau_Mann_Transgender photographs: Feminism, Museum of Perception, Graz (AT) _G
2016
Fat Positive Summer Festival, film screening Fat Positive Shorts, Berceley Public Library, San Fransisco (US) _F
The Body of Work: Resisting Strategies as part of The Inefficient Body - Anti-Capitalist Strategy, a symposium, WUK Performing Arts, Vienna (AT) _P
2015
Fat Pig, Defibrillator Gallery, Chicago (US) _S, P
dinnertime (2014-2016), artist dinners, my apartment, Chicago (US) & Vienna (AT) _D
APPROPRIATION | PERFORMANCE | PART 1, performance festival, gallery michaela stock, Vienna (AT) _G, P
erdbeermilch (strawberry milk) as part of Hotel Obscura (Die Fabrikanten), Magda's Hotel, Vienna (AT) _P
2014
KOMPROMISSQUALITÄT DEUTSCHLAND- fundamental gescheiterte Künstler & die Ästhetik der Maßlosigkeit,
Gallery AA collections, Vienna (AT) _G
EIGHT, Atelierhaus Salzamt, Linz (AT) _G
Tête-à-tête (with Julia Kujat), Die NÄHMASCHINE, Mönchengladbach (D) _G
Daddy‘s little girl invites for dinner (Woman laughing alone with salad), Das YIX, Vienna (AT) _D
2013
Life-Long Weight-Gaining, Neuer Kunstverein Wien (AT) _S, P
The Art of Encounters - Life-Art festival, Tabakfabrik, Linz (AT) _P
Life-Long Weight-Gaining - Try to beat the record, bb15 - Space for Contemporary Art, Linz (AT) _P
2012
Posen in the framework of Xposit, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (AT) _S
Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (AT) _S
Don‘t worry, be ha-ha-ha, Garage X, Vienna (AT) _P
Performing Documentation, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (AT), Kaskadenkondensator, Basel (CH) and JENNYFAIR, Vienna (AT) _P
Ich hab‘ größere Brüste als deine Mutter (I‘ve got bigger boobs than your mother), public space as part of AktionsTheaterKassel, Kassel (D) _P
You can be my double if I can be yours with William Knaack and Michaela Schweighofer, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (AT) _D, F
2011
DIE STILLE NACHBARIN (The silent neighbour), my apartment Gschwandnergasse 59, in the framework of the festival Tatort Hernals, Vienna (AT) _P
Documentary Intervention, Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Vienna (AT) -P
Ich habe nichts gesagt. (I didn’t say nothing), Ida Nowhere, Berlin (D) _P
2010
The Hands That Feed You with Bernadette Anzengruber and Teresa Novotny), Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (AT) _D
essen, lesen, essen. lesung, festessen. festessen. (eating, reading, eating, reading, feast.), Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (AT) _D
2009
hasen/blasen/enten/hähne/eisenbahn (rabbits/bubbles/ducks/roosters/railway), series with Toni Schmale, Secession Vienna, sound- and project gallery „A und V“, Leipzig and Academy
of Fine Arts Vienna, Wien (AT/D) _P
„...und dann war ich an Fasching als Fliegenpilz verkleidet“ (“... and then I was dressed up as a fly agaric for carnival”) with Bernadette Anzengruber in the framework of
Performancebehandlungsraum, Fridericianum, Kassel (D) _P
Kalter brauner Kaffee (Cold brown coffee), Semperdepot, Vienna (AT) _P
2007
Bestandsabnahme Murhardstrasse 14 / Zeig das Dokumentationsfoto (d)eines Kunstwerks (Murhardstrasse 14, amount decreased, Show the documentation photo of your art work), my apartment Murhardstrasse 14, Kassel (D) _S, G, P
2004-2006
Tischlein, deck dich! (The wishing table) with Katarina Corbet, School of Art and Design Kassel (D) _D
Defragmentierung (Defragmentation), School of Art and Design Kassel (D) _P
zeit beschreiben (describing time), Stellwerk, Kassel (DE) _P
Ein Euro für Deutschland (One Euro for Germany) with Thomas Scherl, public space Kassel, Alte Feuerwache Cologne (DE) _P, G
