Titania Seidl
Born in Vienna, Austria, 1988. Lives and works in Vienna.
Titania Seidl’s artistic practice is concerned with the construction of
the female self and the narrative strategies that feed into this construction.
An avid reader of all kinds of fiction, Seidl is interested in both the
auctorial voice (How are female characters described by male narrators? How do
female authors describe their characters? How do these models influence our
internal narrative, our perspective on our own lives?) and the corruption of
that voice by appropriative techniques (the re-writing happening in the
translation of texts into different languages, the practices of fan groups
hijacking mainstream narratives to tell their own stories).
Seidl translates these concerns into paintings, a medium that’s still
emblematic for a certain image of male genius, yet also accessible to a
non-specialist audience. She uses images from different sources - art history,
subculture, comics, self-help literature, or her own sketches - and tries to
unbalance the hierarchies between these different sources, using the canvas as
a unifier. The finished paintings sometimes show clear referential, „legible“
icons or fragments of stories, sometimes they appear altogether abstract.
Reflecting a time where individuality is largely negotiated through objects,
the clothes we wear, for example, the human figure is usually absent or
fragmented. The paintings can take on the form of diminutive, intimate „peepholes“
or large, almost architectural backdrops.
In addition to her painterly practice, Seidl increasingly works with
texts. The painting’s title, most often quotes from influential texts or
personal conversations, can lead the spectator to a different perception of
what’s depicted.
In addition to her practice as an artist, Titania Seidl is the
co-director of the curatorial project MAUVE with artist Lukas Thaler. She also
teaches at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.
Education
2012
Diploma with distinction, supervised by Prof.Judith Eisler.
2010-2011
Programa Erasmus na Newcastle School of Arts and Cultures, Newcastle upon Tyne.
2006-2012
studied painting with Prof.Attersee/Prof.Eisler, University of Applied Arts, Vienna.
Solo Exhibitions (selection)
2022
Eyes Never Quite Catching, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, US.
2019
The Painter & The Rectangle, Zone 1 at Vienna Contemporary, Vienna, Austria.
Mary Sue (her raw gaze), Quadrado Azul, Porto, Portugal.
Mary Sue (her face reads like language), a271, Düsseldorf, Germany.
.
white dwarf magazine #08 W I D D E R, Vienna, Austria.
Centrum (with Lukas Thaler), Berlin, Germany.
2018
like a tightly ball of thread, refusing to unravel, destiny's atelier, Oslo, Norway.
fists with your toes, Parallel Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
2016
why the long face, black sphinx, (with Daniel Ferstl, Lukas Thaler), Drop City, Newcastle, United Kingdom.
2015
composition w. potted plants, vases, drapery, marble,..., MUSA, Vienna, Austria.
For Aliens When Humankind is Gone, (with Melanie Ebenhoch), mo.ë, Vienna, Austria.
2014
X. marks the spot, AIRY, Kofu City, Japan.
a wall, a wall, some mountains, (with Laura Pöld), Showroom for Young Art, Vienna, Austria.
2013
Civility, the fine forms, the old paintings and so on, Galeria ART, Brno, Czech Republic.
Redox, (with Katharina Monka), Sammlung Lenikus STUDIOS, Vienna, Austria.
2012
Inversion (degree show), Reisnerstr.9, Vienna, Austria.
Publications
The Painter & the Rectangle, 2019.
white dwarf magazine #8 W I D D E R, 2019.
TITANIA, Black Pages #77, 2017.
a painter's doubt, Salzburger Kunstverein, 2017 (with an essay by Seamus Kealey).
Artist Lecture Series Vienna Transcript - Titania Seidl, 2017.
painting regarding the present, Naives and Visionaires, 2016 (with an essay by André Hemer).
MAUVE at Club Pro Vienna, 2016 (exhibition publication).
Melanie & Titania, 2015 (exhibition publication, with texts by Sarah Thomas and Jakob Breit).
sei neimals krass zu deinen brüdern (a mauve publication), 2015.
FOUNDATIONS Magazine, The Vienna Issue, 2015.
on fleek, issue 01 (with Daniel Ferstl), 2015.
X marks the spot (exhibition publication), 2014.
Redox (mit Katharina Monka), 2013 (exhibition publication).
Group Exhibitions (selection)
2021
Domino, Raum mit Licht, Vienna, Austria.
2019
Anything Goes, White & Weiss Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Destiny's Gratinée, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Sweden.
Wiener Salon, Brussels, Belgium.
The Hanging of Traitors in Effigie (part 1), Belvedere21, Vienna, Austria.
The Hanging of Traitors in Effigie (part 2), The Pencil Factory, New York, USA.
Intervention at The Grotto, Quadrado Azul, Lisbon, Portugal.
In Spite Of, Porto, Portugal.
Zone 1 Hamam, Vienna, Austria.
Just a Detail, Raum mit Licht, Vienna, Austria.
Salon Goldschlag, Vienna, Austria.
2018
The Yips, Gallery Céline, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
Framed / Unframed, Raum mit Licht, Vienna, Austria.
Unter Bildern, Heiligenkreuzerhof, Vienna, Austria.
The Eventuality Dispenser, Fettes College, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Ergonomics, Material Art Fair, Mexico City, Mexico.
The Serious Fraud Office, Hotel Casa Blanca, Mexico City, Mexico.
Carved and Shaped by Proximity, Pina, Vienna, Austria.
2017
A painter's doubt, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg, Austria.
stonewashed volume one, Vienna, Austria.
Monsone, Suprainfinit Gallery, Bucharest, Romania.
Is she Iceman or is she Goose?, SORT, New York, USA.
Drop City, MUHKA, Antwerp, Belgium.
Temporary, W&K, Palais Schönborn-Batthiany, Vienna, Austria.
2016
Tropical Punch, Galerie Nathalie Halgand, Vienna, Austria.
MAUVE, Club Pro, Los Angeles, USA.
Instagram Now!, Belvedere, Vienna, Austria.
Summer in the City, Galeria Christine König, Vienna, Austria.
nonstreaming artifacts, easyupstream, Munich, Germany.
Die sonderbare Gegenwart zu zweit, _____ Tim Nolas, Vienna, Austria.
XENA, we are hercules, Munich, Germany.
2015
...sharing space, .
The Hour Blue, FormContent, Vienna, Austria.
dreaming dict cc, Skulpturinstut, Vienna, Austria.
Ezara Spangl & Rainer Spangl, ve.sch, Vienna, Austria.
Leicht gegenüber, Fuggerstrasse 40, Berlin, Germany.
2014
Joseph Helland / Titania Seidl / Franz Zar, wellwellwell, Vienna, Austria.
one MAUVE gallery / work, Vienna, Austria.
Wellenlänge I, mo.ë, Vienna, Austria.
Goofy, studios das weisse haus, Vienna, Austria.
First Emerald, then Saphire, then Black, Semperdepot, Vienna, Austria.
beyond mimesis - the unwritten, mo.ë, Vienna, Austria.
2013
In Defense of the Poor Image, hufak offspace, Vienna, Austria.
postoriginal, Friday Exit, Vienna, Austria.
Group Show, Sammlung Lenikus STUDIOS, Vienna, Austria.
Moda WK, Vane Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
Jakob Breit/Daniel Ferstl/Titania Seidl, je regrette, Berlin, Germany.
Flamingo, NRW Bank, Münster, Germany.
Carnation, Kunsthalle Ganglbauergasse, Vienna, Austria.
2012
Anthem, Ausstellungszentrum Heiligenkreuzerhof, Vienna, Austria.
The Essence, Künstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria.
»o«, ve.sch, Vienna, Austria.
Die / Der Würfel / Le dé (VI), COCO, Vienna, Austria.
Räumung, Palais Kabelwerk, Vienna, Austria.
Residências
2019
a271, Düsseldorf.
2014
AIRY, Kofu-Shi.
2012-2013
Sammlung Lenikus, Vienna.
Grants / Awards
2016
Mentoring Program for Artists, Arts and Culture Division of the Federal Chancellery of Austria.
2015
Start Stipendium, Arts and Culture Division of the Federal Chancellery of Austria.
2013-2014
Working Grant, Austrian Ministry of Science and Research.
2010
Winner of the Fred-Adlmüller Stipend.
Collections
Austrian State Collection, Belvedere 21.
City of Vienna Collection.
Tyrol Federal State Collection.
Lenikus Collection.
Strabag Collection.
Mayr-Melhnhof Collection.
and what to expect from the night, 2019. oil on wood. 30 x 24 cm
don't torture yourself with doubt, 2018. oil on wood. 24 x 18 cm
03WDM #WIDDTERT (installation view). . white dwarf projects, Vienna, 2019
hanging of traitors in effigie (installation view) . . Belvedere 21, Vienna (with Lukas Thaler and Laura Yuile)
hanging of traitors in effigie part 2 (installation view). . Pencil Factory, NYC, 2019 (with Nicholas Hoffman, Lukas Thaler and Laura Yuile)
like a tightly knotted ball of thread refusing to unravel destiny (installation view). . Atelier Oslo, 2018
like a tightly knotted ball of thread refusing to unravel destiny (installation view). . Atelier Oslo, 2018
The Yips (installation view). . Celine, Glasgow, 2018 (with Celine Struger and Lukas Thaler)
The Painter & the Rectangle (a pleasure that is modest, simple, private), 2019. oil and watercolor on canvas. 160 x 110 cm
The Painter & the Rectangle (as if life was not quite like what she had been led to expect), 2019. oil and watercolor on canvas. 160 x 110 cm
watch me blow up, 1. Mary Sue, 2019. oil, watercolor and ceramics on wood. 30 x 24 cm
watch me blow up, 3.the narrator. oil, watercolor and ceramics on wood. 30 x 24 cm
where the day has gone, 2019. oil on wood. 30 x 24 cm