Elisabeth Schmirl
Elisabeth Schmirl, born in Salzburg in 1980, lives and works in Vienna and Salzburg. She graduated from Salzburg Mozarteum University in 2006. She co-founded and now runs the cultural initiatives periscope (Salzburg) and batolit (Vienna) – two artist-run spaces which explore questions of working methods in contemporary art. In her work, Schmirl confronts today’s flood of digital images – the so-called facebook generation’s almost manic compulsion to self-exhibition – by extracting a selection of digital self-portraits from the internet, feeding them into her own archive and reproducing them as paintings. She traces the visual attributes and typologies – facial expression, gesture and posture – which could make up the specific character of a young, usually female generation.
Solo exhibitions: 2014 Komorebi, Galerie Trapp, Salzburg (AT). 2011 …The Context of Uncertainty, Kunstverein Salzburg (AT). How do I look at the World, Galerie 5020, Salzburg (AT). 2010 Finger weg von meiner Paranoia, Deutschvilla Strobl, Strobl (AT). Leben Lieben Leuchtturm, Open Art Galerie, Borken (DE). 2009 Room with a view, Festung Hohensalzburg, Salzburg (AT). Als du denkst..., Galerie Eboran, Salzburg (AT). 2008 Watching Art, Café Cult, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg (AT). Can you keep a secret?, Kunstforum Ebendorf Raumacht, Wien. 2007 One_Step_Closer, Open Art Galerie, Borken (DE). 2005 Sounds of Silence, AHSA Gallery, Salzburg (AT).
Group exhibitions: 2014 Papier 1, Galerie im Traklhaus, Salzburg (AT)/Salzamt, Linz (AT). Art Austria, Leopold Museum, Vienna. 2013 re/collecting – Younger than Yesterday. 30 Jahre MdM Salzburg, Museum der Moderne Rupertinum, Salzburg (AT). Hohe Dosis, Fotohof – Atterseehalle, Salzburg (AT). 2012 Parallelwelt Zirkus, Kunsthalle Wien. 2011 Der tägliche Aufstand, Rotor, Graz (AT). JCE – Jeune Création Européenne, Técla Sala, Barcelona; Museo di Arte Contemporanea di Villa Croce, Genua (IT). 2010 Sweet anticipation. Jahresausstellung, Kunstverein Salzburg (AT). Nur Tapeten, Stellwerk, Kassel (DE).
Publications
Elisabeth Schmirl: Younger than Yesterday. 30 Jahre Museum der Moderne Salzburg, exh. cat. Rupertinum Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Offset 5020 Druckerei und Verlag GmbH, Salzburg 2013.
Verena Konrad, “Elisabeth Schmirl”, in: Parallel Welt Zirkus, exh. cat. Kunsthalle, Vienna, Verlag für moderne Kunst, Nuremberg 2012, pp 248–251.
Elisabeth Schmirl, Hinter den Spiegeln, Artbook Verlag, Salzburg 2011.
“periscope (Heizinger | Schmirl)” in: K wie Kunst. Kardinal-König-Kunstpreis Salzburg 2009, exh. cat. Kardinal König Kunstfonds, Müry Salzmann 2009, pp 50–52.