Matthias Fritsch lives and works in Berlin.
He studied Media Art at the University of Arts and Design Karlsruhe (HfG) in Germany and Film, Fine Art and Curating at Bard College, Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS), New York State, USA. Has made several short and long movies, and media-based installations. He strongly believes in the freedom and accessibility of art, culture and ideas. He is best known as the creator of one of the first internet video memes "Technoviking". His documentary "The Story of Technoviking" has been viewed more than a million times and has found its way into numerous media studies courses at international universities.
Matthias Fritsch has been working as a freelance artist and filmmaker since the late 90s, and since 2007 exploring the digital communities that form within Internet video platforms and their significance for the emergence of contemporary cultural production. Accordingly, his works are not only shown in an art context, but also use other platforms and distribution channels. In recent years, Fritsch's main interest has shifted from recycling media in online communities to material cycles and ecological processes. He is now experimenting and developing systems for urban food and soil production, developing tools for more sustainable everyday routines, and has established a community in a large forest garden project near Berlin. This project is self-owned and operated and is expected to continue for at least the next three generations. He also gives workshops on fermentation and mushroom cultivation, and is researching how we can develop our cities more sustainably.
Since 2010, Fritsch has been the artistic director of the annual Moving Silence events in Greece and Cyprus. He also organized other international events as part of this platform for contemporary silent film. Moving Silence was founded in 2009 by Marco Brosolo and Matthias Fritsch.
Awards and Grands (selection)
2012
2009
2009
2009
2006-2009
2005-2006
2005
2005
2003-2005
2003
2001
First Prize at Festival »extra« experimental trails, Leipzig
ZKM Stipendium (Germany)
Diploma in Media Art "summa cum laude" for Exhibition Series "Art Jockey"
Grand Prize "Gregor" at "internationale Kalenderschau" (Germany)
Fellow of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (Germany)
Baden-Württemberg-Stipendium (Germany)
Grande Premio at "Video Lisboa" (Portugal)
Best Video at "EXis" (Seoul, South Korea)
Fellow of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (Germany)
German-Next-Generation award at "sehsüchte" (Potsdam, Germany)
Best Film at San Gio (Verona, Italy)
Exhibitions & Art Events (selection)
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2004
2003
Motores del Clima, LABoral (Gijon, Spain)
Extended Present, Ludwig-Museum (Budapest, Hungary)
Endless Summer, GG3 (Berlin, Germany)
Anthropocene on Hold, PCAI (Athens, online show dueto the Corona virus pandemy)
No Photos on the Dance Floor!, C/O Berlin (Germany)
Expanded Media, Wilhelmspalais, Stuttgarter Filmwinter (Germany)
Waffle falling over, Wolfsburger Kunstverein (Germany)
Screenings & discussions at Gaîté Lyrique (Paris), CCCB & MACBA (Barcelona)
Monitoring, Kunstbahnhof/Stellwerk (Kassel, Germany)
Biennale of the Moving Image Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Risk Society, Museum of Contemporary Art (Taipei, Taiwan)
Megacool 4.0. Youth & Art, k/haus (Vienna, Austria)
Based in Berlin, Atelierhaus Monbijoupark (Berlin, Germany)
Mashup, exhibition at Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche (Osnabrück, Germany)
Art Jockey, three consecutive Solo-Exhibitions in three cultural Institutions:
ZKM, Badischer Kunstverein, Kunstraum: Morgenstrasse (Karlsruhe, Germany)
eLandscapes, Shanghai Science and Technology Museum (Shanghai, China)
art_clips, ZKM | Medienmuseum (Karlsruhe, Germany)
Elektronenströme, Kunstmuseum (Bonn, Germany)
Kunstfilm Biennale, Museum Ludwig (Cologne, Germany)
Transat Video (Caen, France)
Lectures and Teaching (selection)
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2006-2008
Lectures in Berlin and Art University of Volos (GR); workshops in Greece, Spain and Germany
Lecture at Art University Posnan (Poland); mushroom & fermentation workshops in Germany
Mushroom workshops in Berlin
Fermentation & mushroom workshops in Berlin & Limasol (Cyprus)
Animation Film Workshop at Botanical Garden Madrid (Spain), City Walks "Utopia Berlin"
Science Slam at TU Berlin, workshops at Botanical Garden Berlin, FU Berlin, HFBK-Hamburg
Various film & fermentation workshops for children & adults in Berlin & Athens
Leadership holiday camp photo workshop for Neukölln kids & refugee kids from Berlin
Lecture at Künstlerhaus Bethanien/Berlin; various film workshops for children & adults
Lecture at Stuttgarter Filmwinter & Goethe-University Frankfurt (Germany)
Lectures at ECT Athens (Greece), Nat. University of the Arts (Taiwan),
Nat. University Bogota (Columbia)
Lecture at Poetryfestival at Academy of the arts, Hanseatenweg (Berlin, Germany)
Lectures at Emergeandsee, Based in Berlin (Berlin, Germany), ISEA (Istanbul, Turkey)
Lectures at EMAF (Osnabrück, Germany) and IMPAKT Festival (Utrecht, NL),
Conception and Moderation Salon Talk "Art 2.0" at transmediale.10 (Berlin)
Among others lectures at CineFantom (Moskau, Russia), ISEA (Belfast, UK)
Dokfest / Akademie der Künste (Berlin), Kunstmuseum (Bonn), Interfiktion (Kassel)
Seminar concepts and teaching at the HfG-Karlsruhe in cooperation with
Mischa Kuball and Philipp Kleinmichel (Karlsruhe, Germany)
Networks
since 2009
2008-2014
since 2001
2000-2005
Co-founder Moving Silence - Platform for Contemporary Silent Film Culture
Initiator and Producer Music from the Masses - Platform for Music Videos
Editor and Publisher of Newsletter Independent Film Network Berlin
Organisation of monthly Open Screenings as Platform for Independent Film in Berlin
Filmography (selection)
2020
2019
2018
2017
2015
2013
2011
2010
2006
2005
2004
2003
2001
2000
Rituals of Cleansing (5min, video)
Yesterday was a Day of Rumour and Counter Rumour (3min, video)
Soil Farmers (8min, makro film)
Honeybee á la Carte (7min, documentary)
The Story of Technoviking (90min, documentary)
FM-Biography (7min, Poetry-Film in versions)
Datacam No.3 – I'll be watching you... (13:20 min, video)
We, Technoviking (9:30 min, found-footage video, Internet research 2007-2010)
Odyssey 2003 (68 min, documentary with fictional elements)
The World's Simile (57 min, cinematic journey)
The Moths to the Light (18 min, poetic film)
M (4 min, short-film)
Buscam No.2 (3 min, experimental video)
Kneecam No.1 (aka Technoviking on YouTube, 4 min, experimental video, Internet meme)
Installationworks (selection)
2020-2024
2019
2018
2017
2009-2022
2008-2014
2008
2007
2006
2006
2005
2003
Mycelium Garden, Mycelium Network & The Sporers (time based installation)
TECHNOVIKING/////20YEARS (HD projection with splittscreen)
The Soil We Lived Of (2-channel-video)
City and Birds (Loop)
Technoving Archive (Archive, Internet research)
Music From The Masses (open video series for exhibitions and Internet)
Parallaxen (series of 360 degree video-panoramas)
Crashed Tower (sculpture, video)
Mastermax (monitor, public space)
Perfect Moment (videography)
Greek Story (panorama / film installation)
The World's Shortest Video (VHS Player, installation)
Performances (selection)
2011
2010
2009
Landscape No.4 (music performances after Videoscore)
Dance Piece No.2 (collaborative Dance-Video-Music Performance, 30min)
Landscape No.2 & 3 (music performances after Videoscore)
Landscape No.1 (music performances after Videoscore)
Curatorial activities (selection)
since 2009
2005
Moving Silence events, artistic director
in Nicosia, Cyprus at Artos-House (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)
in Athens, Greece u.o. at EMST & Goethe-Institut (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)
in Thessaloniki, Greece at CACT (2014, 2017), also in Columbia, India, Russia and other places
OFFPOP-Festival Berlin, programming of all film programms & parts of the exhibition
Contact
Matthias Fritsch has NO FaceBook, Linkedin, Instagram accounts.
These are his accounts on
Youtube (active 2006-2012, not updated for many years)
Vimeo from 2010-2017
Vimeo after 2018
more contact information
Disclaimer