SUNNY PFALZER  (they/them)

Performance Artist & Guest Professor in Fine Arts

Born 1991 in Vienna, living and working in Zurich, Berlin and Ternitz



Education

2017-2018 Fine arts studies at ENPEG “la Esmeralda”, Mexico City

2012 -2018 Fine Arts studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Department of Performative Art

2010-2016 Study of History and Political Education at the University of Vienna



Performances and solo exhibitions (selection)

2025    CRIPTO SIRENAS, Goethe Institut New York, USA  performance / collaborative exhibition

            CRIPTO SIRENAS, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, DE  performance 

2024    CRIPTO SIRENAS, Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, DE, collaborative exhibition

            CUDDLE SLUGS, Tangente St. Pölten, AT, commissioned festival installation

            RUB YOUR FACE ONTO YOUR SHOULDER, Künstlerhaus Nürnberg DE, performance

2023    SCORES FOR FAKE AUTHENTICITY, Art in the Underground, nGbK Berlin, DE, performance and billboards

            SEND ME A TEXT, Cruze, Madrid, ESP, performance

            I KNOW WHAT TO DO, KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin, DE, performance and exhibtion

            I KNOW WHAT TO DO, Neun Kelche, Berlin, DE, solo exhibition

            I KNOW WHAT TO DO, Tanzquartier Vienna, AT, performance

2022    I KNOW WHAT TO DO, Perrrformat, Zurich, CH performance

            I KNOW WHAT TO DO, The Fairest Art Fair, The Fairest, Berlin Art Week, Berlin, DE performance

            GANGS OF PERFORMATIVE ACTIVISM, Kunsthalle Baden Baden DE performance lecture

            RUB YOUR FACE ONTO YOUR SHOULDER, Halle für Kunst Steiermark, Graz, AT  performance & solo exhibition

            RUB YOUR FACE ONTO YOUR SHOULDER, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, PT performance

2021    RUB YOUR FACE ONTO YOUR SHOULDER, Radialsystem, Berlin DE performance

2020    GANGS OF PERFORMATIVE ACTIVISM, Theater Neumarkt/Shedhalle Zurich, CH performance and lab

            HOLD A GHOST, feldfünf and Montag Modus, Berlin DE performance and group exhibition

            POGO TV, KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin, DE performance

            WHEN THE BATS FLY, pIAR, Kumasi, GH performance

2019    GANGS OF PERFORMATIVE ACTIVISM, Les Urbaines/ Arsenic, Lausanne, CH performance lecture and lab

            TRENZAS. DRESDEN EDT., Tanzkongress Dresden, DE performance

            MODERATION/INTERVENTION, Ashley Berlin, Berlin DE performance

            FROM ETHICS TO AESTHETICS, ATAR Museum, Tel Aviv, IL performance

2017    SUB ROSA, Wiener Festwochen 2017, Vienna, AT performance

2016    WIR BEFINDEN UNS nicht - Can a text be a performance?, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, AT  performance

2015    EDIT ME AGAIN, You've seen me before, MUMOK Vienna, AT performance

            EDIT ME PLEASE, Kunsthalle Wien, AT performance

2014    NO CUBRIR, Centro Gabriela Mistral (GAM), Santiago de Chile, CL performance

            NO COVER, Natural History Museum Vienna, AT performance



Group exhibitions and screenings (selection)

2025  Our Voices, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, DE, group exhibition

          Almost, Das Weisse Haus, Vienna, AT, group exhibition

2024  Video Art at Midnight, Berlin Art Week, Gropius Bau, Berlin, DE, screening

          Fort Biennale 01. In the body of language, Franzensfests, IT, group exhibition

          School of Listening differently, Stadtgalerie Zwergelgarten, Summeracademy, Salzburg, AT  group exhibition

2023  Monitoring, Kasseler Dokfest, Kunstverein Kassel Fridericianum, DE, group exhibition

2022  Queer Trust, Shedhalle, Zurich, CH group exhibition

          Handspells - Vienna Kunsthalle Price, Kunsthalle Vienna, AT group exhibition

2021  The Fairest Teaser 02, The Fairest, Berlin, DE group exhibition

          Hold Hands, Kunstverein Leipzig, DE group exhibition

2018  LAS TRENZAS, Ladrón Galería, Mexico City, MX screening

2017  Queer Encounters - Vienna Trans L.A.; CalArts University Gallery, Los Angeles, US group exhibition

2015  Destination Wien, Kunsthalle Wien, AT




Scholarships and grants (selection)

2024    BMKÖS Individual project funding

            Province of Lower Austria Project funding

            Berlin Senate travel stipend

2023    BMKÖS Individual project funding

            Province of Lower Austria Project funding

2022    BMKÖS Individual project funding

            TANZPRAXIS stipend Berlin senate

2021    DAKU Fund for the performing arts Process funding

            DAKU Fund for the performing arts Research Funding

            Province of Lower Austria Project Funding

            Province of Lower Austria Research Grant

            DIS-TANZ-SOLO Scholarship

            BMKÖS individual project funding

2020    BMKÖS, Startstipendium

            BMKÖS individual project funding

            BKA film development grant

            MA 7 City of Vienna project grant

            DAKU #takecare research grant at Libken

2019    BKA, individual funding

            Province of Lower Austria Project funding

2017    Academy of Fine Arts Vienna ARTSTART scholarship




Residencies

2024    SAIC Chicago, US

            Yes. Contemporary, El Salvador

2023    fluent PRAXIS, Santander, ESP

            TURBO Residency, Impulstanz Festival, AT

2021    TRUST Collective, Barril de Alva, PT

2020    pIAR, Kumasi, GH

2019    danseatelier, Copenhagen, DK

2017    Cráter Invertido, Mexico City, MX

            Ladrón Galería, Mexico City, MX

            danceWEB, Impulstanz Festival Vienna, AT




Academic career / Workshops and Teaching

2024-2025 Guest professor  Fine Art ++ Mediation Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts

2024 Städelschule Frankfurt

2018 + 2019 University of Applied Arts Vienna

2017 / 2018 / 2019  Academy of Fine Arts Vienna




Other activities

2018-2019 Studio Manager Isabel Lewis' Studio Callie's Berlin

2019 Assistant American Realness Festival, New York



Curatorial work

2025 Activist Choreographies of Care, nGbK Berlin

2024 Hold me grieving, Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin

2022 Hold me TV, Scherben, Berlin

2018 assistant curator of Isabel Lewis Martin-Gropius-Bau Berliner Festspiele