S()fia Braga is an Italian transmedia artist and director based in Vienna, conducting artistic research that combines digital and post-digital practices. Her work is focused on exploring new technologies to create speculative fabulations that delve into themes such as transhumanism, human and non-human collaboration and non-human agency. Moreover, S()fia’s work investigates the concept of “Interveillance,” shedding light on the hidden power dynamics enabled by centralised social media platforms’ operational structures and their sociological implications.
S()fia’s identity constantly changes and goes hand in hand with the narratives she creates: over the last years she has been an artist, a transhumanist entrepreneur, an AI auteur, a cyberstalker, a TikToker and has mutated several times into a monstrous creature.
She graduated in Visual Arts (BA, MA) at the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna (IT) and in Interface Cultures (MA) at the University of Art and Design of Linz. Currently she’s a lecturer and co-coordinator for the Human Rights in the Digital Age curriculum at the University of Applied Arts - Die Angewandte in Vienna.
Over the past two years she has been awarded the Kunstfoerderpreise der Stadt Linz (UNESCO city of Media Art) for the New Media Art category (2022), the Startstipendium fuer Medienkunst by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Art and Culture (2023), the Content Vienna Award (2023) and Bank Austria Studios award (2022). Her works have been exhibited at Ars Electronica Festival (AT), Xie Zilong Photography Museum (CN), XII Video Vortex Conference (MT), WRO Media Art Biennale (PL), Deutsche Bank (IT), Schlossmuseum Linz (AT), Pinacoteca Albertina di Torino (IT) and more.
2021 MA Interface Cultures, Media studies department, University of Art and Design of Linz, Austria 2016 MA in Research and Design for Visual Arts, Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna, Italy 2013 BA in Visual Arts, Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna, Italy
Awards & Grants2024 AI in Art & Culture, Grant, BMKOES - Austrian Federal Ministry for Art and Culture (AT) 2024 Best Experimental Animation Award, Winner, 52. Festival of Nation (AT) 2024 Unesco City of Media Arts Award, Nomination, Karlsruhe Internationl Film Festival (DE) 2024 Spotlight your Idea, Winner, Vienna Business Agency & Forward Festival (AT) 2023 Content Vienna Award, Winner, Vienna Business Agency (AT) 2023 Startstipendium für Medienkunst, Grant, BMKOES - Austrian Federal Ministry for Art and Culture (AT) 2022 Art Prize of the city of Linz, Winner New Media, Design and Communication category, (AT) 2022 Bank Austria Studios Award, Grant (AT) 2022 ArteVisione 35th edition, Finalist, careof, Milan (IT) 2020 Share Prize, Finalist, Turin (IT) 2019 Swiss Original, Selected Project, Milan (IT) 2019 OMA, Open Media Award, Selected Project, Linz (AT) 2017 Gif Art Award, Selected Project, Asa Nisi Masa, Rome (IT) 2015 Art Prize CBM - Premio Carlo Bonatto Minella, Honorary Mention Video-Art Category, Turin (IT)/ London (UK)/ Prague (CZ)
Solo Shows2023 Forehead Vulva Channeling Research, Galeria 17, Pristina (SQ), Presented by Ars Electronica EXPORT 2023 Felt Cursed, Might Delete Later, Atelierhaus Salzamt, Linz (AT) 2022 ALPHA STATE, OÖ Kunstverein, Ars Electronica Festival 2022, Linz (AT) Duo show w/ Christiane Pescheck 2021 Forehead Vulva Channeling HUB, ArtVerona 2021 - Modern and Contemporary Art Fair, TBD Ultramagazine Stand, Verona (IT) 2020 Die Verwandlung, TBD Ultramagazine 1st Issue - Ultra Event 2018 You Are Running Out of Battery, Link Cabinet | Link Art Center (IT)
Selected Group Shows & Screenings2024 Tooling the Future, Mesh Festival, Basel (CH) 2024 Forward Festival, Gartenbaukino, Vienna (AT) 2024 Festival of Nations, Lenzig (AT) 2024 TIFF - Tirana Film Festival, Tirana (AL) 2024 Nope, STWST48x10, Ars Electronica Festival, Linz (AT) 2024 Forward Festival, HKW | Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (DE) 2024 Aegean Film Festival, Patmos (GR) 2024 Short Shorts & Asia Film Festival, Tokyo (JP) 2024 TecTales, discotec - New Media and Performance in Contemporary Art, Vienna (AT) 2024 Out of Sight, Seen. Kunstforum Bank Austria, Vienna (AT) 2024 Minds & Machines: Creativity and AI, Flatpack Festival, Birmingham (UK) 2024 36th Filmfest Dresden - International short film festival, Dresden (DE) 2024 23rd Independent Days - International Film Festival, Karlsruhe (DE) 2024 24th Landshut Short Film Festival, Landshut (DE) 2024 All Art is an Image. Performing Representation, Studio Home Awareness, Coeval Magazine, Milan (IT) 2023 Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin, New Cinema and Contemporary Art (FR/DE) 2023 Cold Heaven, STWST48x9, Ars Electronica Festival, Linz (AT) 2023 High Time, Festival der Regionen, Steyregg (AT) 2023 FMR 23, Art in Digital Context and Public Spaces, Linz (AT) 2023 Gallleriapiù in wonderland, Gallleriapiù, Bologna (IT) 2023 In the Eye of Infodemic - International Conference on the Future of Non-Commercial Television, Splace am Hauptplatz, Linz (AT) 2022 After Party, Art City Bologna - Mock Jungle, Palazzo Re Enzo, Bologna (IT) 2022 Rechannelled Corporealities, Virginia Bianchi Gallery (IT) 2021 The Struggle is Real, Green Cube Gallery, curated by Clusterduck 2021 MetaCinema 2021 – Festival delle Audiovisioni Ibridanti, Bologna (IT) 2021 OUR BODIES, OUR DATA, curated by FACES - Gender, Art, Technology, supported by Frauenkulturbüro NRW 2021 Art Layers, AR filters exhibition, curated by Valentina Tanni 2021 Subterranean Virtualscapes, Virginia Bianchi Gallery 2021 Digital Square, EUROPARK, Salzburg (AT) 2021 WRO - Wro Media Art Biennale 2021, Wroclaw (PL) 2021 Maratona di Visione, Turin (IT) 2020 BILLY - Wanja Hack, Linz (AT) 2020 Share Festival 2020 – Riots, Here We Are, Turin, (IT) 2020 MetaCinema 2020 – Festival delle Audiovisioni Ibridanti, Bologna (IT) 2020 Ibrida Festival 2020, Forlì (IT) 2020 VALIE EXPORT X Cyber Art, OÖ Landes-Kultur, Linz (AT) 2020 Ars Electronica Festival 2020, Linz (AT) 2020 Kultur braucht Kunst, Schlossmuseum Linz (AT) 2020 AMRO Festival - Art Meets Radical Openness 2020, Linz (AT) 2020 Ricalcolo. Di territori computanti e dei loro attuatori analogici, KB 1909, Gorizia (IT) 2020 Mind the Gap, Biblioteca Statale Isontina & Dipartimento di Salute Mentale "F. Basaglia" , Gorizia (IT) 2019 Swiss Original, Overstudio, Milano (IT) 2019 BEST OFF, Splace am Hauptplatz, Linz (AT) 2019 XII Video Vortex conference, Spazju Kreattiv, Malta (MT) 2019 Berlin Art Week, Bitkom, Berlin (DE) 2019 Ars Electronica Festival 2019 - Out of the box, PostCity, Linz (AT) 2019 Casting Screens, HFBK Hamburg, Hamburg (DE) 2019 Xie Zilong Photography Museum, Changsha (CN) 2019 OMA - Open Media Award, Ars Electronica Center, Linz (AT) 2019 Best Before: 17.01.19, Splace am Hauptplatz, Linz (AT) 2018 Speculum Artium 10, New Media Culture Festival, Trbovlje (SL) 2018 Ars Electronica Festival 2018 - Error, the Art of imperfection, Post-City, Linz (AT) 2018 Rundgang, Kunstuniversität Linz (AT) 2018 The Internet Yami-Ichi, HeK - Haus der elektronischen Künste, Basel (CH) 2017 Pink Pink Moon, The Wrong - New Digital Art Biennale 2017 The Internet Yami-Ichi, iMal - Center for Digital Cultures and Technology, Brussels (BE) 2017 Maison Laponte collection launch, Vogue Fashion Night, Milano (IT), 2017 Connections, A bit of History 2017, MRF, Torino (IT), 2016 Paesaggio Futuro, Deutsche bank, Milano (IT) 2016 One Step Beyond, Porto dell'Arte, Bologna (IT) 2016 Accept / Decline, Gallleriapiù, Bologna (IT) 2016 Dronica, Gallleriapiù, Bologna (IT) 2016 Space. Inside and Outside the limits, NoD Gallery, Prague (CZ) 2015 Space. Inside and Outside the limits, Pinacoteca Albertina, Torino (IT), curated by Art Prize CBM 2015 Matta.dero, Isala Gallery, Madrid (ES) 2015 Secondo Livello, oTTo Gallery, Bologna (IT) 2015 Rebus, oTTo Gallery, Bologna (IT) 2015 Terzo Allestimento, Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna
Talks & Lectures2023 - ongoing Human Rights in the Digital Age, co-curator and lecturer, Applied human rights department, Die Angewandte - University of Applied Arts, Vienna (AT) 2023 AMRO Research Lab, Exposure and Deception in the age of Platform Capitalism, servus.at, Linz (AT)
Workshops2024 Artificial Storytelling: Introduction to open source AI video generation, Impact Hub, Vienna (AT) 2023 A Guide to Disruptive UGC, Time-Based Media Department, Kunstuniversität Linz (AT) 2023 Manifesting Earthly Survival & Artificial fabulations, Communale OÖ, Peuerbach (AT) 2023 Artificial Fabulations into the Future, Space 17, Pristina (SQ) 2023 Manifesting Earthly Survival, Festival der Regionen, Gallneukirchen (AT) 2023 Manifesting Earthly Survival, Festival der Regionen, Steyregg (AT) 2022 Our space too: Migrant girls in solidarity against violence, collaboration with Maiz, Linz (AT) 2020 ASMR for Earthly Survival, AMRO Festival, Linz (AT)
Residencies2022-2024 Atelierhaus Salzamt, Linz (AT), (Awarded Studio) 2020 Mind the Gap, Forme Uniche’s art residency, Gorizia (IT) 2019 IAMAS - Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences, Ōgaki (JP)
Curatorial2022 Next Cloud Atelierhaus, curatorial project 2021 Next Cloud Residency, curatorial project 2020 Lost in a Garden of Clouds, AMRO Festival (AT) 2020 The Internet Yami-Ichi (project by IDPW/Exonemo), Curatorial project, Ars Electronica Festival 2020, Linz 2019 The Internet Yami-Ichi (project by IDPW/Exonemo), Curatorial project, DAS - Dispositivo Arti Sperimentali, Bologna (IT) 2019 The Internet Yami-Ichi (project by IDPW/Exonemo), Curatorial project, Ars Electronica Festival 2019, Linz
Selected Press, Publications & Contributions2024 The Artificial Conjuring Circle: A collaboration between artist and AI to explore new possibilities within the realm of moving images and speculative fabulations., contribution pg. 191-194, Fokus Künstliche Intelligenz, BMKOES - Austrian Federal Ministry for Art and Culture (AT)
2024 Portrait of a Girly Girl: When Recording a Video Selfie is a Feminist Practice, critic text by Sofia Pirandello, Film & Media Studies Journal, University of Milan
2023 Content Vienna Award: Creative Projects in Film, AI, and Gaming, Interview, Forward Magazine
2023 I Stalk Myself more than I Should: Online Narratives to Disrupt and Investigate Interveillance and Digital Bodies Politics within Centralised Social Media Platforms., Article, AN-ICON. Studies in Environmental Images, University of Milan
2023 S()fia Braga, Interview, Coeval Magazine
2023 Shipwrecked in the Dark Forest, Article, Versorgerin (AT)
2023 Forehead Vulva Channeling Research, Ars Electronica (AT)
2023 Forehead Vulva Channeling Research, Interview, Kosovo 2.0 (SQ)
2023 Machines of Loving Grace. Solo Show Review, Versorgerin (AT)
2023 "Performare in Realtà Aumentata" in Fantastiche Presenze, Book, Sofia Pirandello, Johan & Levi Editore
2022 Per un’arte in divenire. L’immaginario macchinico dell’audiovisivo italiano di inizio millennio, as part of "Videoarte in Italia. Il video rende felici", Book, Marco Mancuso, Edited by Treccani, Rome (IT)
2021 La prima mostra nella galleria digitale di Virginia Bianchi, Artribune
2021 Essere stalker di se stessi. Il filtro d'artista di S()fia Braga, Interview, Artribune
2021 Pandemic Exchange: How Artists Experience the COVID-19 Crisis, Contribution, Edited by Josephine Bosma, Insitute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam (NL)
2021 La fanzine come spazio d'espressione libero, etico e indipendente, i-D Italy
2020 I (never) explain #80 – S()fia Braga, Contribution, ATP Diary
2020 S()fia Braga - Die Verwandlung, TBD Ultramagazine
2020 Ricalcolo: a Gorizia, una mostra sul miraggio della perfezione tecnologica, Exibart
2019 “Internet Yami Ichi”: intervista ai curatori, Rivista Segno
2018 You Are Running out of Battery - Sofia Braga, Link Art Center
2016 Chmode. Un passo oltre, Show Review, ATP diary