CONTACT mail(at)karinferrari.com
Karin Ferrari is a contemporary artist whose practice bridges fine art, media theory, and internet culture through interdisciplinary video, painting, installations, and performance. She has a robust track record of international exhibitions, insitutional recognition, major awards, media broadcasts, and thematic innovation.
Karin Ferrari uses visual material from pop culture and global media to investigate the present. Her work offers an artistic contribution to ongoing discussions around (dis)infotainment, and visual literacy. She’s particularly interested in what she calls trash mysticism — also her Instagram handle. Follow me. By this, she means contemporary, DIY forms of superstition and spirituality emerging online, as well as the hidden mystical desires that drive consumer culture.
Karin Ferrari is a media artist — and something of a medium herself, though not necessarily a very good one. She works across a wide range of media, from woodcut to video.
Karin Ferrari earned her degree in Cultural Studies and Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna — the cradle of psychoanalysis — in 2008. After that she worked for two years as an assistant curator for design at the MAK (Museum of Applied Arts) in Vienna and almost abandoned her own artistic activity until she spent one night binge watching reptilian shape-shifting news reporters on YouTube. Since then Ferrari has been working her video series DECODING (THE WHOLE TRUTH). These experimental docu-fictions claim to reveal hidden messages in music videos, advertisements and news intros. They are inspired by the knowledge production of digital subcultures on the threshold of paranoid political imagination and esoteric utopian desires. 2020 Ferrari’s started her ongoing research project Archi_Fictions of Ekstasis – an essayistic theory fiction art project about pseudo-sacred commercial architecture, issued in several volumes and supported by the Benno Barth Award and the BKA.
Her DECODING THE WHOLE TRUTH video series is published on her YouTube channel and has been shown internationally in museums, art-centres and on television.
Solo Shows
2025 The Eye in the Sky. Museum. Museo Lapidarium, Novigrad, Croatia 2023
Freaky Fairy Flux Foundation, RfdInsel, Heart of Noise Festival, Innsbruck
Un.Holy Haus, Galerie am Stadtplatz, Wörgl
2022 Temple of Ga GA, Vorbrenner Projekt BRUX, Innsbuck
Haunted Landscapes of Desire, E/// Eschenbachpalais mit Galerie Jünger, Vienna
2021 The New Holy. Art in Public Space KOER Tirol
2020 Rooftop Temples of New York City, GalLery Juenger Wien
2019 TR4SH MYSTICISM. Exhibition at Ferdinandeum, Tyrolean State Museum, Innsbruck
ALIENS, SEX + PARANOIA. Exhibition at Künstlerhaus Thurn und Taxis, Bregenz
2017 DECODING (THE WHOLE TRUTH) Screening at Cité des Arts, Paris
The Map Is The Territory. Exhibtion at Gallery Jünger, Vienna
2016 I Call Ron. Artist Statement at Parallel Art Fair Vienna
DECODING (THE WHOLE TRUTH) Blickle Kino, 21er Haus – Museum for Contemporary Art, Vienna
Hyperconnected (The Whole Picture) Palais des Beaux Arts Vienna
Collections
RLB Südtirol
Museion Bozen
Art Omi, New York
State Collection Tyrol, Austria
Collection City of Innsbruck, Austria
Collection Museum Vorarlberg
Allard Pierson Museum Amsterdam
Collection RLB Tirol
State Art Collection, Austrian Federal Chancellery
Collection Ursula Blickle Video Archiv, Belvedere / 21er Haus, Wien
Frans Masereel Center, Kasterlee
private collections
Awards and Residencies
2025 Research Grant BMKOES for Artistic Work with AI
2024 Air Burgenland
2021 Award Lower Austria at the Austrian Graphics Competition
Special Mention at the Vienna Short Film Festival for m h y t n i x
2020 Art Award of the City of Innsbruck
State Scholarship Federal Chancellery of Austria for Media Art
Research Residency in New York City
2019 Benno Barth Award
2018 Art Omi International Artists Residency, Ghent, New York
RLB Art Award RLB Kunstbrücke, Innsbruck
Artist Residency Yogyakarta by the Federal Chancellery of Austria
Residency Cité International des Arts, Paris
Pixel, Bytes & Film – ORF III Artist in Residence
2017 Nomination Walter Koschatzky Art Award, Albertina Vienna
Artist Residency Cité Internationale des Arts Paris by the Federal Chancellery of Austria
2016 DECODING Austria’s News Intros (THE WHOLE TRUTH) Pixel, Bytes & Film – ORF III Artist in Residence
Artist Residency Frans Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee, Belgien
2015 Warp Artist Village Bruges, Belgium
Group Exhibitions (selection)
2024
AIR 2023 Vienna / Hungary / Croatia / Sri Lanka, Krinzinger Schottenfeld, Vienna
Lee Nevo + Karin Ferrari , Gefängnisgalerie Le Carceri, Kaltern, Italy
When We Move It’s A Movement, Kunstraum Innsbruck
We Could Be Witches, Fish Factory Penry, UK
Summoning the Ghostly, Endotic Reserach (TIER), Berlin
MUTA, Pori Art Museum, Finland
Looking elsewhere being there, CerModern Arts Center, Ankara
2023
Trienala Ladina 2023, San Martino in Badia, Italy
Geister, Dschinns und Avatare, (kuratiert von Petra Poelzl), HAU Berlin
Break The Charm, Galerie Burster, Berlin
Kortfilmfestivalen, (kuratiert von Neil Young) Norwegian Short Film Festival, Grimstad The Gym, Kampnagel, Hamburg
I’ve seen the future baby, it’s sexy, Kulturni centar Kula, Belgrad
2022
The Gym, Soho Studios Ottakring, Vienna
Dimensions Variable, KOER Wien, Lainz
I’ve seen the future baby, it’s sexy, Skuc, Ljubljana
2021
Techno, Museion für Moderne und Zeitgenössische Kunst, Bozen, IT
Screening m h y t n i x, REVERSO, 19th Media Art Biennale, WRO Art Center, Wrocław, PL Screening m h y t n i x, Diagonale – Festival des österreichischen Films Graz
Screening m h y t n i x, Vienna Shorts Film Festival
2020
Cmd P for (reality), Frans Masereel Center, Kasterlee, Belgium
Sum Ergo Sum, Bruneck
2019
The Watchers, The 8th Floor/The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, New York
Cmd P for (reality), Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam
LINZ FMR, Biennale für Medienkunst, Musikpavillion, Linz
Land(e)scapes, Kunsthaus Mürz, Mürzzuschlag
26th European Film Festival Palic, Serbia
Diagonale – Festival of Austrian Film
Beauty Case, Hofburg Brixen
Anywhere on Earth, Haus am Gleis, Liechtenstein
2018
The Value of Freedom(curated by Severin Dünser), 21er Haus – Museum for Contemporary Art, Vienna, AT
20 Jahre RLB Kunstbrücke, RLB Kunstbrücke, Innsbruck
Art Omi Open Studios
Parallel Art Fair Vienna
Unmittelbar auf Papier, Galerie Jünger, Vienna, AT
Eau & Gaz(curated by Kathrin und Sarah Oberrauch Lanserhaus Eppan, IT
Magic Circle (curated by Katharina Brandl und Daniela Brugger), Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Wien
Souvenir (curated by Fabio Santacroce / 63rd – 77th STEPS e Giusy Ottonelli) Spazio Murat, Bari, IT
2017
Antarctic Biennale(curated by Nadim Samman), Antarctica Biennale Ship, Antarctica
Postinternet.Art, The Wrong Biennale, Digital Art Biennale
Works on Paper, Büro Weltausstellung, Wien
My Music, Dias Kunsthal, Kopenhagen
Chance Meeting (curated Claudia Slanar) SCCA – Center for Contemporary Arts, Ljubljana
Revealing Reflected Refractions(kuratiert von Rachael Gorchov), Tiger Strikes Asteroid, New York
The New Normal (curated by Murat Adash), Beirut, Istanbul
(Screening) There Is No Time, Hamburg
2016
Deep Inside V Moscow International Biennale for Young Art(curated by Nadim Samman), Moscow
Coup De Ville (curated by Stef Van Bellingen), Sint Niklaas, Belgium
Jan Cremer & MultiplierFrans Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee, Belgium
Back To The Future Papay Gyro Nights (curated by Ivanov + Chan), Videotage, Hong Kong
(Solo / Artist Statement) Parallel Vienna, Vienna
Frame Out FestivalMuseumsquartier Wien
THE WHOLE TRUTH DISKO at the War Party, Royal Military Museum, Brussels, Belgium
2015
Warp Artist Village Art and Architecture Triennale, Bruges, Belgium
Mehr als Worte: Zeichen, Symbole, Sinnbilder Volkskunstmuseum, Innsbruck
Auratic and Other Phenomena (curated by Erich Hable) Galerie 5020, Salzburg
The International Teletext Art Festival ITAF (curated by Juha van Ingen from FixC cooperative) ARD Text, ORF TELETEXT, Swiss Text and arte Teletext
Ars Electronica, Deep Space, ITAF, Linz
Amsterdam Drawing Fair 2015, (Galerie Martin Kudlak, Köln), Amsterdam
Bedroom Culture (curated by Johanna Braun), The Satellite Show, Miami Beach, FL
Investigative Séances x Sonorous Trajectories Unsafe + Sound Festival (kuratiert von Shilla Strelka), Bar du Bois, Wien
Occult Symbolism in Pop Culture. Adult Coloring BookGalerie Jünger, Wien
Lecture-Performances and Workshops
2019
Making Truth: Friedrich von Borries, Karin Ferrari, Martha Kirszenbaum, Lisl Ponger in conversation with Angela Stief, Vienna Art Week
The Ultimate Guide to TM (Trash Mysticism), Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck
Karin Ferrari Artist Talk, Kunsthalle Wien
Occult Machines: The iPhone Xs. A Techno-Magical Portal, subnetTALK, Salzburg
2018
Artist Talk ( invited byFabio Santacroce / 63rd – 77th STEPS e Giusy Ottonelli)Spazio Murat, Bari
2017
Lecture, Predictive Programming (curated by Bori Szalai, lecture-performances by Serafin Alvarez, Karin Ferrari and György Szimán in the context of the series Thought Sculptures ) Trafo Galeria Budapest
Séance with WiFi Board, Galerie Jünger, Vienna
Artist Talk and Screening (invited by Elisabeth von Samsonow) Academy Fine Arts Vienna
2016
Workshop, Applied DemonologyCoded Cultures Festival, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Workshop Hyperstition: Challenging Dominant Reality Todaywith Mark Fisher, Armen Avanessian, Karin Ferrari, Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen, Innsbruck
Lecture, DECODING THE WHOLE TRUTH (invited by Seth Weiner) Webster University Vienna
2015
Talk Karin Ferrari and Fritz Ostermayer Occult Adult Coloring Book (Bookpresentation), Galerie Jünger, Vienna
Lecture, DECODING THE WHOLE TRUTH Lecture (invited by Seth Weiner) Webster University Vienna
Participative performance, Subliminal Mess, (with Gedvile Bunikyte) Tyrolean Folk Art Museum, Innsbruck
Publications
Christian Petersen: Karin Ferrari: Portrait of the Artist as a YouTube Conspiracy Theorist, in Artslant Magazine, 2018
Karin Ferrari: Weird Wired Viral, in “Epidemic Subjects – Radical
Ontology”, Elisabeth von Samsonow (ed.), The University Chicago Press for Diaphanes, 2017
Schönheit und Verdauung, Thank Gods!, 2017
Nadim Samman: Karin Ferrari, in: 5th Moscow Biennale for Young Art, Katalog, 2016
Sarah den Hond: Karin Ferrari, in: Coup de Ville 2016, catalogue, Borgerhoff & Lamberigts, 2016
Karin Ferrari (Hg.) Coloring Book, 40 pages, english, 2015
Claudia Slanar: Karin Ferrari – Flavor Flower in: “Mehr als Worte. Zeichen. Symbole. Sinnbilder. Katalog Tiroler Volkskunstmuseum”, ed. Wolfgang Meighörner, Athesia Tappeiner Verlag, Bozen, 2015
Karin Ferrari: Entretextes, in: “Unzipping Philosophy”, Elisabeth Samsonow (Hg.), Passagen, Wien, 2009
Karin Ferrari: Intelligent Timelines, in: “World Best New Art”, Georg Leutner (Hg.), Verlag für moderne Kunst, Nürnberg, 2006