Stefanie Wuschitz

Stefanie Wuschitz is an artist and researcher based in Indonesia and 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 art 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, for example ART|JOG 8 (Indonesia), Bouillants Vern-Sur-Seiche (France), the Taipei Fringe Festival (Taiwan), the Austrian Cultural Forum (the US), the 8th International Sinop Biennial (Turkey) and the 16th International Biennial of Aveiro (Portugal). 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.