STEFANIE WUSCHITZ
Stefanie Wuschitz is an artist and researcher currently based
in Austria. Her projects investigate strategies to demystify
and decolonise technology. In her artistic research Wuschitz
applies critical media practices (feminist hacking, open-source
technology, peer production) to create interactive installations
and animations. She graduated with an MFA in Transmedia Arts in
2006. In 2008 she completed her Master’s degree at the Interactive
Telecommunications Program of Tisch School of the Arts, New
York University. She held research fellowships at Umeå University
(Sweden), UdK Berlin, the Weizenbaum Institute, Berlin (Germany),
and Michigan University (the US). In 2009 Wuschitz founded the
feminist hackerspace and art collective Mz* Baltazar’s Laboratory,
in Vienna, which she co-organised until 2023. In 2014 she finished
her PhD on Feminist Hackerspaces at TU Vienna; she then held
postdoctoral positions at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, TU
Vienna, Universität der Künste Berlin, TU Berlin and the Academy of
Fine Arts Vienna. From 2015 to 2016, Stefanie was part of a research
collective (Tech.Culture.Matters.) at the University of Michigan.
Between 2018 and 2023, she was principal investigator on three
projects: an arts- based research project on ethical hardware
titled Feminist Hacking (funded by FWF) ; a top citizen-science
project on e-waste titled Salon of Open Secrets; and, from 2020
to 2021 (funded by FWF), the arts-based research project Coded
Feminisms in Indonesia at TU Berlin, within the framework of the
DiGiTal programme for Women* in Art and Science. Wuschitz is
currently principal investigator of the arts-based research project
Strategies Against Digital Colonialism, funded by FWF (Elise
Richter PEEK) and affiliated with the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna,
in collaboration with Sanata Dharma University in Indonesia.
Her artwork has been exhibited and screened at international venues,
among others at Ars Electronica Festival in Linz 2024,
where she together with Patricia J. Reis received a S+T+ARTS prize nomination.
2024 she also exhibited at the 38c3 Chaos Communication Conference in
Hamburg together with Patricia J. Reis and holding a lecture at the conference.
Other venues include ART|JOG 8 (Indonesia), Bouillants Vern-Sur-Seiche
(France), the Austrian Cultural Forum (the US), the 8th International Sinop
Biennial (Turkey) and the 16th International Biennial of Aveiro (Portugal) as well
as the Africa-Asia3 confest 2025 (Senegal).
She had solo exhibitions at Kunstraum pro arte in
Salzburg (Coded Feminisms in Indonesia), at Galerie 3 in Klagenfurt
(Gute Mi[e]ne – Böses Spiel) and, with her artist collective,
Mz* Baltazar’s Laboratory, at Kunstraum pro arte, VBKÖ, Forum
Alpbach and Medienwerkstatt Vienna, among others. Wuschitz
was keynote speaker at the Annual Conference of Arts, Humanities
&Technology (Indonesia) and at the Conference on Tangible,
Embedded & Embodied Interaction (Austria). She contributed to
the track concept, panel moderation and presentation at Politics of
the Machines in Berlin (DE) and Trans/Feminist Hacking – Spaces,
Communities and Practices at the Einstein Center Digital Future in
2019. She co-organised media art festivals, for example the eclectic
tech carnival in Sweden, Space Re:Solutions in Vienna, Napravi Me
in Belgrade and the Feminist Hardware Festival, Vienna. Wuschitz
also curated several solo exhibitions at Mz* Baltazar’s Laboratory in
Vienna, by Reni Hofmüller, Lisa Truttmann and Ulla Rauter, among
others. She worked as a lecturer at several national and international
universities, including the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, the
University of Applied Arts Vienna, the University of Art and Design
Linz, the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Kunsthochschule Kassel,
the Institute of Contemporary Art Moscow, The Bartlett (University
College London), Shih Chien University Taipei, the School of Visual
Arts NYC and Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University. Wuschitz
served as a jury member for the European Citizen Science Prize
of Ars Electronica 2023 and as an advisor for the EU project Arts
Formation 2023, among others.