KATHARINA THERESA MAYR is an interdisciplinary process artist who expresses her art through works with a strong conceptual level. She employs a wide variety of research methods as part of the artistic process. Her work is particularly characterised by abstract large-scale drawings, language, so the written and spoken word and physical, performative components. She engages intensively in the creation, investigation, and observation of socio-cultural structures, experimenting with everything from analogue to innovative current technologies. In this artistic cycle, colourful, floating body fragments in combination with pink neon signs find their expression within the installation space. Her works – rooted in abstract drawings – oscillate between scenario, ideology, utopia, and heterotopia. One step is enough – crossing the threshold – and an entirely new perspective unfolds.
She explores the concept of space and sees emptiness as the greatest potential of our society – a tabula rasa of all socio-cultural structures as a possible solution. Only when this threshold is crossed can innovation and progress once again emerge in the social sphere.
The artist does not believe in overinterpreting her works but rather in generating an intimate space of invisible communication between the artwork and the viewer – one that is solely dedicated to the observer. She considers the artistic process to be the highest expression of her creative practice. The message inherent in it represents her responsibility towards society, while the resulting artwork serves as a tangible trace – an object marking an active societal contribution within the cultural sector.
She believes in the responsibility and potential of contemporary art as a voice for current issues. She is constantly experimenting with ways to push the boundaries of concepts such as language, performance as a tool, and 2D drawings. Because only in the spaces between the lines, within the gaps, can friction arise – and with it, energy, something beyond the known, something truly interesting.
2022 – 2023
Yoga teacher training: Prana Vinyasa Certification (200 Kontaktstunden) & further training: Sringara Prana Vinyasa Certification (21 Kontaktstunden); Shakti Prana Vinyasa Certification (30 Kontaktstunden) / IT
2018 – 2021
BA / Free University of Bolzano / Faculty Design and Art Major Art / Bolzano / IT
2009 – 2011
Diploma / die Glasfachschule / Kramsach / AT
2024 ongoing
new workshops formats to enliven the (museum) exhibition space: ‘Art meets Yoga’ and ‘Performance-LAB’ in collaboration with SKB ARTES / Bolzano / IT
Drawing: GEH_walt; an initiative by Südtiroler Künstlerbunde (SKB ARTES) and the Erlebnis Pragser Wildsee association,
in collaboration with the Provincial Advisory Board for Chancengleichheit (Equal Opportunities). The project is supported by the Stiftung Südtiroler Sparkasse.
Audio Installation: »Gegenplätze« ore 21.11, parco giochi, BZ
An artistic-scientific inquiry into the hidden life of playgrounds;
Group exhibition as part of an initiative by Eurac Research and SKB, with the kind support of the Free University of Bozen –
Faculty of Design and Art, Municipality of Bozen/Bozen City Gardening, and sound producer George Munro (UK).
A collective action and the sharing of a Brezel
Ateliers // Artists: AliPaloma, Santija Bieza, Lara Catalani, Karolina Gacke, Eva Kaufmann, Katharina Theresa Mayr,
Laura Pan & Ariel Trettel. Musik: Caroline Profanter
Artist residency and initiative "Zimmer frei!" in Portopiccolo, based on the concept of a (literal) "residential" exhibition format;
initiated by fabiofonda.art, Portopiccolo Apartments, and SKB.
Audio installation: Die Muttum. Process drawing;
Group exhibition of 174 artists for the opening of the new exhibition spaces of the Südtiroler Künstlerbunde/SKB ARTES.
Photography: Luftwurzler;
Group exhibition / Permanent exhibition of the 13 winning works, supported by the Foundation Stiftung Südtiroler Sparkasse
in collaboration with the Bolzano Health District and curated by Cooperativa 19 and the Südtiroler Künstlerbund/SKB.
solo exhibition: “I am a part of you, you are a part of me. We are all one, a whole, without duality. Act and live according to this approach –
feel,... and the world would be a better place.” – Katharina Theresa Mayr
Katharina Theresa Mayr creates a kind of abstract ideology in the Art Box of the Klocker Museum. A scenario that oscillates between
utopia and heterotopia. Tabula Rasa on a grand scale: a neutral, emptied ideological space, after crossing the predefined threshold(s)
of our society. But what do we in turn find in this emptied, neutral space? In principle, there is always a fear of emptiness, of the undefined,
of actual freedom, of detachment. But wouldn’t this be exactly the solution to our social problems and points of friction?
artist residency & group exhibition
group exhibition “Negotiating Images” curated by Eva Leitolf and Giulia Cordin
(Studio Image; Free University of Bolzano)
audio-installation “The petrol station as a transfer site and passage point”
an artistic experiment within the sociocultural site of the petrol station as a place of transition — an audio diary
group exhibitions as semester shows
installation “A Shelter. Hommage & respect towards a stranger“; group exhibition with Massimo Bartolini and Luca Trevisani;
drawing an advert regarding a special issue of the magazine Turris Babel, issue 09/2019; initiated by Paul Thuile
Alchemilla Frauenkalender 2023: artistic concept and graphic design (2022; South Tyrol, IT);
Cover designs for Deep Fix Records (UK); cover designs for music producer George Munro (UK, AT);
Snowboard design for Baguette Boards (AT), commissioned works/private collections;
Initiation of the project un.art.clothing (2015 – 2018): Fashion-Label (traditional hand screen printing;
handcrafted leather bags in limited editions);
Skateboard design for Xdouble (independent skate store in Innsbruck/AT; 2017)
Texts in English for the artist catalogue and opening speech for the artist Philipp Klammsteiner regarding his
solo show with the same title “The Social Incident” (2022; Galerie Prisma, South Tyrol, IT);
Texts/lyrics in English for the music producer George Munro (UK, AT)