CURRICULUM VITAE

VERONIKA MERKLEIN, *1982 in Schwäbisch Hall (DE), based in Vienna (AT)

EDUCATION / STAYS ABROAD

  • 2007 – 2012 Fine Art studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (AT)
  • 2004 – 2007 Fine Art studies at the School of Art and Design Kassel (DE)
  • 2025 Artist in Residence in Cité internationale des arts, Paris (FR), funded by Austrian Federal Cultural Ministry (AT)
  • 2023 Artist in Residence in Popp’s Packing, Detroit (US)
  • 2022 Artist in Residence in Artscape Gibraltar Point, Toronto (CA)
  • 2014 – 2015 Artist in Residence in Chicago (US), funded by Austrian Federal Cultural Ministry (AT)
  • 2012 Traineeship, archiv performativ, Zurich University of the Arts (CH)

GRANTS / COLLECTIONS (selection)

  • 2025 Project fund – Otto Mauer Fund (AT), Project fund – Bildrecht (AT)
  • 2024 Project fund – Austrian Federal Cultural Ministry (AT)
  • 2023 Federal Annual Scholarship for Fine Arts –  Austrian Federal Cultural Ministry (AT)
  • 2022 Travel fund – Austrian Cultural Forum Ottawa (CA), Project fund – Austrian Federal Cultural Ministry (AT), 1. Price – presentation – Weight Stigma Conference, Humboldt University Berlin (DE), Project fund – Bildrecht (AT)
  • 2021 Project fund – Bildrecht (AT) , Project fund – City of Vienna, Austrian Federal Cultural Ministry (AT), Project fund – District Josefstadt, Vienna (AT)
  • 2019 Travel fund Dublin (IE) – Vienna (AT) –  Austrian Federal Cultural Ministry (AT), Project fund – Austrian Federal Cultural Ministry (AT)
  • 2017 1. Price – presentation – Weight Stigma Conference, Prague (CZ)
  • 2015 Project fund – Austrian Federal Cultural Ministry (AT), Project fund – Austrian Cultural Forum New York City (US)
  • 2014 Project fund – Austrian Federal Cultural Ministry (AT), Abundia Empowerment Fund scholarship (US)
  • 2012 Funding for the final thesis, Austrian Federal Ministry for Science and Research (AT)
  • Represented in private collections in Germany, Austria and in the US, in public collections of the City of Vienna and the State of Austria.

ARTISTIC PROJECTS (selection)

S = solo show, G = group show, P = performance, D = performative dinner, F = film screening

  • 2025 FAT Life, OK Linz (AT) _P, Women at work, Kunstverein Amrum (DE) _G, A fat person goes to the doctor, Cinema Talks Graz _F
  • 2024 A fat person goes to the doctor, Diagonale Graz _F, Textures of Time: Rocks & Dust, gallery michaela stock (AT) _G, Fett in der Medizin – Gesundheit vor Gewicht?, Brick 15 (AT) _P
  • 2023 Salon Parcours, Vienna (AT) _P, konform-NON-konform / Antlitz der neuen Zeit, Städtische Galerie Nordhorn (D) _G, P, Par/cours, Mönchengladbach (DE) _G, Meal, Dom Museum, Vienna (AT) _G
  • 2022 FAT Life, Vienna Art Week (AT) _P, Meal, Dom Museum, Vienna (AT) _G, Artscape Gibraltar Point, Toronto Island (CA) _G,P, A fat person goes to the doctor, Weight Stigma Conference, Humboldt University Berlin (DE), The Fatter The Better, SPARK-Fair, gallery michaela stock, Wien (AT) _S, Garden Eden  (with Ela A. Sattler) in the framework of Pickle Bar, Wiener Festwochen, Vienna (AT) _P
  • 2021 Der wunde Punkt (The sore spot), Salon Real / Virtual, gallery michaela stock, Wien (AT) _S
  • Circus Salto Morale, public space, 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) _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)
  • 2015 Fat Pig, Defibrillator Gallery, Chicago (US)  _S, P
  • APPROPRIATION | PERFORMANCE | PART 1, performance festival, gallery michaela stock, Vienna (AT) _G, P
  • erdbeermilch (strawberry milk) as part of Hotel Obscura, Magda’s Hotel, Vienna (AT)
  • 2014 dinnertime (2014-2016), artist dinners, my apartment, Chicago (US) & Vienna (AT) _D
  • 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)
  • 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), 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), 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
  • 2006 Tischlein, deck dich! (The wishing table) with Katarina Corbet, School of Art and Design Kassel (D)

PROJECTS / WORKSHOPS / LECTURES / TEXTS (selection)

PJ = project, W = workshop, L = lecture, T = text, TA = teaching activity

  • Ongoing Publications in BILDPUNKT, Vienna (AT) _T
  • 2025 Performance Theory 2 (Co-teaching Evamaria Schaller), University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (AT) _TA
  • 2024 Performance Theory 1 (Co-teaching Evamaria Schaller), University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (AT) _TA
  • Sorry, I am fat I am late for work, WU Gender and Diversity Conference 2024, University of Economics Vienna  (AT) _L
  • 2022 Von A wie Adipositas bis Z wie Zucker – Fat Studies – Glossary, Transkript (DE) _T
  • 2021 Casual Encounters—Catalyst: Cindy Baker, Catalyst Book Series (US) _T
  • Von A wie Adipositas bis Z wie Zucker – Apostils of Fat Studies, Transkript (DE) _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 Workshop 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 CurVienna – Plus-size fashion market & talk with Virgie Tovar, organisation with Bobby Hermann-Thurner and Rhea Krcmàrovà, Vienna (AT) _PJ
  • 2011 Die kleinen Tode vor dem ERROR (The little deaths before the ERROR), story in „Verhältnisse“, Band II „Zusammenbruch“, Turia + Kant, Vienna (AT) _T
  • PANik3 – Performance as documentation, Performance evening with discussion – organisation and moderation with Thomas Geiger, Performance Art Network Vienna, depot, Vienna (AT) _PJ
  • Tatsachenbericht (factual report), Article in the catalogue “Performing Memory”, Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Vienna,(AT) _T
  • 2010 PHLEGMA-LOOP, scenic reading of Katharina Vana, Schauspielhaus Vienna (AT) _PJ, T
  • Performance 2, „                “, “This Sentence is Now Being Performed”, die bildende 06, 2010, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna Magazine (AT) _T

PRESS

O = online, PR = Print, R = Radio, TV = Television,

  • konkret, Austrian TV ORF 2, October 2023, Author: Onka Takats _TV
  • Grafschafter Nachrichten, German newspaper, September 2023, Author: Elisabeth Kemper _O, PR
  • Querformat, Austrian magazine, October 2022, Author: Bernhard Fleischanderl _O, PR
  • religion.ORF.at, Austrian television broadcast, September 2022, Author: Johanna Grillmayer _TV
  • Ö1 Mittagsjournal, Austria radio broadcast, September 2022 _R
  • Berliner Zeitung, German newspaper _ O, PR
  • BILD, German newspaper, September 2022, Author: Anja Opitz _O
  • Artfood, Austrian blog, July 2022, Author: Alice Schmatzberger _O
  • Falter, Austrian newspaper, May 2022, Author: Martin Pesl _O, PR
  • Falter, Austrian newspaper, July 2021 _O
  • Wiener Zeitung, Austrian newspaper, March 2021, Author: Claudia Aigner _O, PR
  • Jutarnji list, Croatian newspaper, January 2019, Author: Patricia Kis _PR
  • NEUE – Vorarlberger Zeitung, Austrian newspaper, March 2018, Author: Lisa Kammann _PR
  • Vorarlberger Nachrichten, Austrian newspaper, March 2018, Author: Veronika Fehle _PR
  • Wiener Zeitung, Viennese newspaper, printSeptember 2017, Author: Claudia Aigner _PR
  • Einfach mit Stil, Austrian Life-Style-Blog, March 2017, Author: Paulina Gabara _O
  • The Heroine’s Journey, US-American blog, October 2016, Author: Peter de Kuster _O
  • Standard, Austrian newspaper, November 2016, Author: Helmut Ploebst _PR
  • Ö1, Austrian national radio station, August 2016, Guest at Kristin Gruber’s Nachtquartier _R
  • Insejin, Austrian Zine, June 2016, Authors: Insejin _PR
  • Ravishly, US-American online magazine, May 2016, Author: Virgie Tovar _O
  • Missy Magazine, German Queer Feminist magazine, May 2016, Author: Magda Albrecht _O
  • FM4, Austrian national radio station, April 2016, Author: Nermin Ismail _R
  • Curvect, Austrian blogazine, April 2016, Author: Martina “Bobby” Hermann-Thurner _O
  • WTF is Live Art, interview series, November 2015,Authors: Die Fabrikanten _O
  • Presse, Austrian newspaper, October 2015, Author: Heide Rampetzreiter, _PR
  • Chicagoist, cultural magazine, February 2015, Author: Carry McGath _O
  • European Cultural News, cultural magazine, December 2014, Author: Michaela Preiner _O
  • Louise & Maurice, American art & philosophy blog, December 2014, Author: Erinn M. Cox _O
  • Die Wienerin, Austrian magazine, September 2014, Author: Ruth Weismann _PR
  • Die Presse, Austrian newspaper, May 2013, Author: Almuth Spiegler _PR
  • Plus Size Beauty, German plus-size blog, June 2014, Author: Denise Frank _O
  • Der Standard, Austrian newspaper, January 2012, Author: Andrea Heinz _PR
Contact

You have seen my work.

Let´s talk.

fatlife@veronikamerklein.net

Contact