Christiane Peschek

“In an interview, Christiane Peschek noted that her artistic work is based on the fact that, as a result of digitalization, a photographic image is “no longer a static chronicle, but a fluid construct.” In that way, she addresses the very point where artists are currently most challenged: Solid images are becoming arbitrarily changeable files that hardly have the character of a piece of work anymore; above all, however, the appearance and metamorphoses of images are increasingly owed to apps and AI programs. As a user, you click, command or even just touch a screen – and then await with anticipation what kind of image will emerge. The result can be suspected at best, and in either way gives rise to a more or less big surprise effect. As quickly and easily as new imagery and variations of it are available, so little does one create it oneself. And what could be a greater breaking point for artists who have always been defined by and admired for their ability to create imagery themselves?
Christiane Peschek, however, experiments directly, almost offensively, with various image editing programs and filters, and subjects selfies in particular to every conceivable digital manipulation. Her strategy often consists of exaggerating the use of a technique to its extreme. For example, she processes an image up to a hundred times with the same filter, first excessively enhancing the face, which leads to a blurring effect, that finally makes it unrecognizable. If Peschek turns the purpose of an app into its unexpected opposite by overusing it here, in another case she gets involved with the smoothing, harmonizing effect of filters that cast a pastel-pink over the face. 
She is, nevertheless, curious as to whether this digital aesthetic, which particularly dispositions images for smart exchange on social media, can give rise to a kind of ‘internet gaze’: a distinct form of perception of faces, bodies, objects. Instead of being visible under a specifically male or female gaze, they would then (despite that algorithms are not conditioned too “humanly”) appear free of gender bias and more fluid in this respect. However, this is also likely to lead to a change in gender roles and body ideals. The more influence AI and filters have on how the world is visually conveyed, the more it will adapt to their aesthetic norms and obey new standards.


With images, installations, books and projects, Christiane Peschek explores the possibilities of that ‘internet gaze’. Through the diverse and intensive use of digital tools, she succinctly condenses and makes visible what one will perhaps much later identify as its characteristics. And since she transfers the aesthetics generated on the internet into real space and tangible objects, for example, as in the series “BLUSH TALES”, printing reshaped selfies on large-scale soft fleece, she also counteracts the flat, sleek surfaces of the screens. Both in their design and in their materiality, the artworks thus represent an alienation, and precisely in this way Peschek succeeds in a sensually powerful affirmation of the characteristics of digital imagery. Ultimately, one can find in her concentrated works both the otherwise long-tired utopias of digitalization and the Internet – a world without borders and opposites – as well as dystopian fears confirmed, according to which everything virtual threatens to end in sterility and control. As such, Peschek’s works are suitable as a source and reference point for complex and controversial discussions about the social consequences of net culture and its images. 
The fact that artists no longer have sole sovereignty in the creation of images in the age of advancing digitalization does not necessarily lead to a loss of relevance. In fact, if they, like Christiane Peschek, find stubborn and reflective ways of dealing with the visual phenomena of the Internet, they are more important than ever. For they create what every future society urgently needs: an awareness of the power of digital aesthetics.”

Wolfgang Ullrich, 2022




*1984 Austria

Christiane Peschek‘s work has been internationally exhibited in Galleries and Institutions such as Kunstmuseum Celle, the NRW Forum Düsseldorf, Museum MARTA, U10 Belgrade, UNSEEN Amsterdam, Salzburger Kunstverein and Benaki Museum Athens. 

Peschek was awarded with several international prices such as the UNSEEN Tesla Art Trail award, honor price of Emergentes DST and the state scholarship for photography by the Austrian Government. 
Her works are found in collections such as ING DiBa Art Collection, the Museum of Modern Art Salzburg, the Artothek at Belvedere21 Vienna and the Kupferstichkabinett Vienna. 

Christiane Peschek‘s works live between emotional alienation, self-sacralisation and fluid identity research in an extended virtual space. 
In images and multi-sensory installations she creates dialogues sculpted by virtual exhaustion, intimacy and self-idealisation.
The observation of the physical body on both sides of the screen, between on- and offline identities are a continuous topic in her projects. 
Words, retouched images, scents and other sensual and ethereal materials become hybrids of analog processes and digital/virtual transformation in a post-Internet reality. 
In interaction with near-body technologies such as smartphones, Peschek explores the “hyper-ego” using the surface of touchscreens to create experiences in the intersection of technology and cosmology. 

Education

2009 – 2014

Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

2009 – 2010

Transmedia Arts | University of Applied Arts Vienna

Solo Shows

2023

LIMINAL GHOSTS | DIANA New York

F O R E V E R | ALBA Gallery, Vienna

SOFT CORE | Galerie Krems, Museum Krems

2022

BOYS LIKE ME | ALBA Salzburg, spot on section

Blush Tales | KUNST & DENKER CONTEMPORARY, Düsseldorf

OASIS | SANATORIUM, Istanbul

GYM | ALBA Gallery, Vienna

EDEN BLISS | SINGAPORE ART WEEK

2021

THE AURA TEMPLATE | SOTHEBY’S ARTISTS QUARTERLY, Vienna

GYM | VIRGINIA BIANCHI GALLERY, online

2020

HYPERIA | Galerie Sophia Vonier, Salzburg

MY HISTORY BECOMES DATA | 405 Gallery, online

2018

VELVET FIELDS | Photon Gallery, Ljubljana

SURFACE STUDIES | Quando Scoppia La Pace, Centennale Vittorio Veneto

HEATWAVE | VENT Gallery, Vienna

FIELDS OF ARES | Salzburger Kunstverein

2016

YOU DISAPPEARED IN COMPLETE SILENCE | Varfók Gallery, Budapest

YOU DISAPPEARED IN COMPLETE SILENCE | Gallery A ILHA, Lisbon

2015

INVISIBLES | Bildraum 07, Vienna

13 KINDER, 10 HÄUSER | Triennale of Photography, Hamburg

13 KINDER | The Copper House Gallery, PhotoIreland, Dublin

Group Shows

2023

Systemrelevant | Künstlerhaus Wien, Vienna

Fabric of Dreams. Towards a Technodiversity | AIL, Angewandte Interdisciplinary Lab, Vienna

FLOAT | Kunstmuseum Celle

2022

HOUSE OF CHALLENGING ORDERS | VIENNA ART WEEK

ARNEKPHTCKFCR – Meet us on Jumpier | with ALBA, JUPITER, Hamburg

HYPERSCAPES| Kornhausforum, Bern

FAKING THE REAL | Kunsthaus Graz

MIND GAMES | Österreichisches Kulturforum, Peking

ALPHA STATE | OÖ Kunstverein, Linz (Duo)

TOTAL ECLIPSE | Memphismemphis, Linz (Duo)

CHRONICLES 4 | Galerie Droste x Porcellane Manufactur, Berlin

OH HOOMAN WHERE ARE THOUGH | VBKÖ, Vienna (Duo)

#003 THE VAPORWAVE ISSUE | 0-0-1-0 Exhibitions, Berlin

TAKE MY HAND AND I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT WAS AND WILL BE | ALBA Gallery, Vienna

MIND GAMES | Austrian Cultural Forum, Beijing

IS IT ME? AM I THE DRAMA? | Salzburger Kunstverein

2021 – 2022

JAPAN REVISITED | Austrian Cultural Forum Japan, online

WELCOME TO PARADISE | NRW Forum Düsseldorf

LOOK, Exposures on art and fashion | Museum MARTA Herford

2021

STORMY WEATHER | Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris

EDEN | CIVA Festival for new Media, Vienna

03/21 QUEER ANATOMY | Motherboard, Vienna

BLISS | UNCANNY REALITY, Symposium Lindabrunn

EINATMEN/AUSATMEN | Minoriten, Graz

2020

STORMY WEATHER | Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Vienna

HORTUS CONCLUSUS Sculpturegarden | Museum of Now, Vienna

4×4 | Galerie Schloss Wiesbach, curated by Margit Zuckriegl

ORTung 2018-2019 | Kunstraum Pro Arte, Hallein

2019

36. GRAFIKWETTBEWERB | Galerie Taxispalais, Innsbruck

NEW PAINTING II | Galerie Sophia Vonier, Salzburg

ARTIFICIAL BLOOM/FLUID ARCHIVES @ SANATORIUM, Istanbul

VACANT DREAM STATE | FOTO WIEN, EIKON Showroom, Vienna

BETRAYAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY | FOTO WIEN, Kunstraum Nestroyhof, Vienna

FOTOGALERIE WIEN | MUSRARA Photography Festival, Jerusalem

CHURCH OF EGO | U10 Projectspace, Belgrade

2018

HUMAN | Fotogalerie Wien, Vienna

TRANSFORMATIONS | DüsseldorfPhoto, Düsseldorf

UNSEEN | Co-Op, Amsterdam

AIR | Annual Exhibition, Cultural Department of the City of Salzburg

2017

Annual Exhibition | Salzburger Kunstverein Art Association, Salzburg

HYPODENS | Burggasse 21, Vienna

CONSTANT SPRING | Panama+ Festival for contemporary art and music, Munich

2016

TEMPORARILY LOST | Beton7 Athens Photo Festival, Athens

#MEMORY_ARCHIVE | Photobook Melburne

2015

CIRCULATIONS Festival de la jeune photographie européenne | Paris, Projections

SUMMERSHOW | SANS Gallery, Oslo

INVISIBLE | Encontros da Imagem, Braga

FICTIONS | Matienschön, Buenos Aires (with Martin Bollati)

2014

PHOTO:VIENNA | Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna

AUSTRIAN PHOTOGRAPHY | Fotohof Salzburg

TRUTH, FACTS, FICTIONS, LIES | PhotoIreland, Dublin

HALT MICH FEST, FRIER MICH EIN, ZEIG MICH HER | Sammlung Lenikus, Vienna

2013

HALT MICH FEST, FRIER MICH EIN, ZEIG MICH HER | Salzburger Kunstverein

Grants and Prices

2022

Arbeitsstipendium Kunst | Bundeskanzleramt Österreich

2021

AIR Residency Grant | Cultural Department City of Salzburg

2020

Recognition price female art practice | Anne-Goldberg-Fonds, Austria

bang.prix | Istanbul

Otto-Maurer-Fonds Projectgrant

2019

State Scholarship for artistic photography (STAATSSTIPENDIUM) | BKA Federal Chancellery Austria

Unseen TESLA Art Trail Award

KÜNSTLERSTIPENDUIM | Cultural Department of the City of Salzburg

2017

shortlist LUCIE AWARDS

selected artists PORTFOLIO REVIEW | NRW Forum Düsseldorf

2016

Honorable Mention Price for THE FEAR THEORIES | International Photography Award EMERGENTS dst

Selection for YOU DISAPPEARED IN COMPLETE SILENCE | Voices of Arles

2015

Selection for INVISIBLES | Voices of Arles

Scholarship Triennale of Photography Hamburg | Deichtorhallen Hamburg

2014

Selection Lugano Photo days

Shortlist Cinema Art Award

Winner of PhotoIreland Portfolio Review 14

STARTSTIPENDIUM für künstlerische Fotografie | BMUKK Austrian Government

2013

Workstipend | Cultural Fonds, City of Salzburg

2012

Workstipend at “the Guesthouse” | Residency, Cork, Ireland

2011

UNESCO scholarship for Artist-in-Residence | NES, Iceland

Publications and Editions

2022

OASIS – a spa reader | SANATORIUM, Istanbul

2021

EDEN | SED Editorial Buenos Aires

LOOK! | Museum MARTA Herford

2020

EDEN | self published

STORMY WEATHERS | Verlag für Moderne Kunst

ART UNLIMITED | Istanbul

JAPAN REVISITED | Austrian Cultural Forum Tokyo

2019

EIKON Magazine for contemporary photography #105

VACANT DREAM STATE | 280A, Vienna

Magazyn Postmedium, Warsaw

2018

FOAM MAGAZINE featured portfolio, Amsterdam

FIELDS OF ARES | Artistbook, self published

SENTIMENTAL DEFENSE, 280A, Vienna

Bilder 305/2018 | Fotogalerie Wien

2017

Squarting the circle pt. 2: Liquid Landscapes | 280A, Vienna

2016

MIS/DISPLACED, Exhibition Catalogue | Athens Photo Festival

2015

INVISIBLES | EINER BOOKS, Oslo

+This Very Instant, Issue #1 Adulthood

Invisibles, Edition Voices of Arles

Power & Illusion, Exhibition Catalogue | Encontros da Imagem

  • Christiane Peschek @ Nika Projects Dubai

  • NIKA Project Space is proud to announce its fourth exhibition, I Can No Longer Produce the Limits of My Own Body, opening on 15 November 2023. Put together by independent curator and art critic Nadine Khalil, the group show will feature seven artists delving into practices that explore the body as an expanded site and medium.
  • art:badgastein
  • We are excited to be part of art:badgastein
    an exclusive art fair as a part of Sommerfrische Kunst in Bad Gastein

    with works by
    Lidija Delić
    Lars Eidinger
    Caroline Heider
    Justine Otto
    Christiane Peschek
  • ALBA | ARNEKPHTCKFCR
  • ALBA Gallery will take part at the group show 
    ARNEKPHTCKFCR - Meet us on Jupiter


    JUPITER - former Karstadt Sport
    Mönckebergstraße 2-4
    Hamburg
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