Patrícia J. Reis (b. 1981, Lisbon, PT) is an installation media artist based in Vienna (AT) whose practice encompasses different formats and media to examine our relationship with modern technology. Through an ongoing investigation that destabilize the boundaries between science, technology, magic and spiritual believes, she explores questions “How do we believe in machines?” and “How technology is shaping us bodily?”. In her complex installations she often appeals to the visitor’s sensoriality in an intimate and sensual way, encourage them to become active participants. Seeking to subvert visuality as a primarily mode of experience, she plays with technology as a mean to expand and stimulate corporeal perceptions in the viewer. Inspired by Media theory and Cybernetics, Reis analyses similar modus operandi among humans and machines, such as program, system and automatism, suggesting the human body as such, and playing around with its own sensorial mechanisms. Her work becomes distinctive in the contemporary art scene by combining such disparate imagery, with contrasting media (painting, sculpture, photography, video, interactive systems) and materials (paper, resin, styrofoam, wood, metal, foam, textile).
She studied Painting (ESAD, Superior School of Art and Desing, Caldas da Rainha Portugal, 2004), Media Art (Master program at the Lusófona University, Lisbon, Portugal, 2011), and she holds a Ph.D. in Art (University of Évora, Portugal, 2016).
Reis was a fellow researcher from National Science Technology Foundation of Portugal (2011-2015). From 2006 to 2012, she was lecturing Photography, Video and Digital Arts at the Polytechnic Institute of Beja, Portugal, as a full-time Assistant Professor. She was a post-doc researcher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (AT) within the framework of the artist-based research project Feminist hacking: building circuits as an artistic practice (2020-2023), a guest post-doc researcher at the Weizenbau Institut at TU in Berlin (2022) and a lecturer at the Media Design department of the Art University in Linz, (AT) (2015-2023). Currently she is a Post-doc Senior Researcher recipient of the Grant Elise Richter-Programm (Peek) as the leader of the artist-based research project Hacking the body as the black box at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna (AT) (2023-2027) and since 2015 a Lecturer at the Digital Arts Department of the University of Applied Arts in Vienna (AT).
Since 2012 Reis has been offering workshops, exhibitions, and talks, locally and internationally (Brussels, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Madrid, San Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco).
Furthermore, she has a feminist approach on her artistic practice, focusing on the assigned female roles in terms of representation (in the digital image), and on the lack of female participation and visibility behind the production of new technologies and art. Since 2012 she is a board member of the collective Mz* Baltazar’s Lab, a feminist hackerspace based in Vienna (AT) in which she is curating exhibitions and collectively creating and researching on interactive installations on the intersection between art, gender, science and open source technology.
Reis has exhibited her work frequently nationally and internationally in solo and group shows. In 2021 she was awarded with the Outstanding Artist Award in Media Art by the Austrian chancellery for Culture and was the artist selected for the International exchange program IMPACT ART between Austria and San Francisco Bay in the USA, awarded by the Arselectronica, BKMÖES and zero1.org. She participated in several artistic residence programs such as in Canada: Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (2018) in Banff; Greece: ResidenceSEA — Sensing your environment through art in Heraklion (2016); Germany: Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (HWK) in Delmenhorst (2014) and at the Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst (2013) in Oldenburg.
Photo © Claudia Sandoval Romero 2021
Honors, prizes and artist-in-residences
Post-Doc fellowship Elise Richter for Arts-based Research (PEEK), awarded by FWF Austrian Science Fund (2023-2027)
IMPACT ART, International exchange program with artist community of the San Francisco Bay Area, sponsored by BKMÖES, Arselectronica Linz, and zero1.org. (2021)
Outstanding Artist Award for Media Art, BKMÖES Bundesministerium Kunst, Kultur, öffentlicher Dienst und Sport, Austria. (2021)
Grantee State Scholarship for Media Art 2020, awarded by BKA Bundeskanzleramt Kunst und Kultur, Austria (2020)
Post-Doc fellowship Programme for Arts-based Research (PEEK), awarded by FWF Austrian Science Fund (2020-2023)
Grantee for artist-in-residence in Mexico city, awarded by BKA Bundeskanzleramt Kunst und Kultur, Austria (2020)
Grantee for Artist-in-residence at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Canada awarded by Video und Medienkunst Abteilung, BKA Bundeskanzleramt Kunst und Kultur, Austria (2018)
Grantee for Arbeitsstipendium für Video und Medienkunst awarded by BKA — Bundeskanzleramt Kunst und Kultur, Austria: Author’s book publication (2017)
Grantee for Artist-in-residence at ResidenceSEA — Sensing your environment through art, Heraklion, Greece, awarded by BKA — Bundeskanzleramt Kunst und Kultur, Austria. [Part II] (2017)
Artist-in-residence at ResidenceSEA — Sensing your environment through art, Heraklion, Greece. [Part I] (2016) Artist-in-residence with artist Carla Cabanas at Mz* Baltazar’s Lab, Vienna, Austria. (2016)
Grantee for Arbeitsstipendium für Video und Medienkunst awarded by BKA — Bundeskanzleramt Kunst und Kultur, Austria.
Grantee for ÖH-Uni-Wien-Topf zur Förderung feministicher/ queer, from ÖH uni Wien, Austria (2015)
Grantee for Fördertopf für feministiche/ queere Forschung — ÖH.ac, Austria. (2015)
Grantee for International exhibition from the Universität fur Angewandte Kunst, Austria (2015)
Artist-in-residence at Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (HWK) Institute for Advanced Study Delmenhorst/ Germany (February – June 2014)
Grantee for Neue Medien – Förderungsantrag, from MA7 — Kulturabteilung der Stadt Wien, Austria (2013)
Grantee for International exhibition from Instituto Camões, Portugal (2013).
Grantee for International Visual Arts from Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Portugal (2013)
Prize for Media Art Project: Stipendien der Stifung Niedersachsen für Medienkunst 2013, from Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst, Oldenburg, Germany. (June –December)
Artist-in-residence at CRIR – Christiania Resercher in Residence, Copenhagen, Denmark. (April 2013)
Grantee for Artist-in-residenceInterchange programme Lisbon/ Budapest, August 2007, Lisbon City Hall, Lisbon, Portugal. (2007)
Selected artist to the Rothschild 2007 3rd Art Prize, Lisbon, Portugal. (2007)
Exhibitions
Solo Show Digital Skin, StudioOne, Valparaíso, Chile. [January – February 2024]
Duo Show “Love’s Modern Nature”, Austrian Cultural Forum, Warschau, Poland. [January – February 2024]
Group Show SOS 2.0_ Fürsorge ist die Schwester der Autonomie, Medienwerkstatt, Vienna, Austria. [December 2023 – January 2024]
Group Show The Coffee Table, XVI International Ceramics Biennale, Aveiro, Portugal. [October 2023 – January 2024]
Group Show What’s Love got to do with it? (A collaborative project with Steffi Alte and Saskia Te Nicklin), Mz* Baltazar’s Lab, Vienna, Austria. [September-November 2023]
Group Show Mud-Group#3: Who has land to make a fire (A collaborative project with Céline Struger and Kristin Weissenberger), Galerie3 Klagenfurt, Austria. [September – October 2023]
Group Show Digital II Sensor, Fotogalerie Wien on Tour, Medienwerkstatt, Vienna, Austria. [April-May 2023]
Group Show Mud-Group#3: Who has land to make a fire (A collaborative project with Céline Struger and Kristin Weissenberger), Mz* Baltazar’s Lab, Vienna, Austria. [March-April 2023]
Group Show Salon of Open Secrets, Kunstraum pro art, Hallein, Austria. [September, October 2022]
Group Show RGB EXPIRA: 2022, Castelo e Paço dos Condes, Ourém, Portugal. [Julho-Agosto 2022]
Group Show Regresso al Por Venir — 14 Bienal de La Habana, Estación Cultural Línea y 18, Havana, Cuba. [March-April 2022]
Group Show 1M Sotto La Metro Rome, Italy. [December 2021]
Group Show KAIROS. Recall of Earth at AIL, Vienna, Austria. [November – January 2021-2022]
Group Show The Kitchen at medienwerkstatt during the Vienna Art Week, Vienna, Austria. [November 2021]
Solo Show in collaboration with Carla Cabanas “From object to affect: proposals for future archives after the media” Criatech 2021, Aveiro, Portugal. [October 2021]
Solo Show in collaboration with Dorota Walentynowicz, “The Medusa v. The Odalisque”, Mz* Baltazar’s Lab, Vienna, Austria. [July-August 2021]
Group Show, Adventkalender 2020, esc medien kunst labor, Graz, Austria [online]. [December 2020]
Group Show, Tale of Delusion, VBKÖ, Vienna, Austria. [August-September 2020]
Group Show, CYBORG SUBJECTS, esc medien kunst labor, Graz, Austria. [May—July 2020]
Group Show, :: Kairos Recall of earth, MIET – Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece, Thessaloniki, Greece. [November, 2019-January, 2020]
Solo Show, Underneath the skin another skin, Criatech, Aveiro, Portugal. [October, 2019]
Solo Show/ Artist statement, Blow!, Parallel Vienna, Austria. [September, 2019]
Solo Show TALE OF DELUSION, Mz* Baltazarʼs Laboratory [Patrícia J. Reis, Lale Rodgarkia-Dara, Ana Loureiro, Taga Torosyan], Georg Kargl Permanent, Vienna, Austria. [September – October, 2019]
Group Show flora pondtemporary, Special project at flora pondtemporary, St. Florian, Linz, Austria. (July-September 2019)
Group Show #FUCK REALITY, Gallery Šira, Zagreb, Croatia. (June 2019)
Solo Show Through The Hole is the Way-Out-Of-This -World, Kulturdrogerie, Vienna, Austria. (May-June 2019)
Group Show #FUCK REALITY, Fundación Ludwig, Havana Biennale, Cuba. (April 2019)
Group Show ROBOT LOVE, Evoluon, Campina, Van Abbemuseum, Park Theatre Eindhoven Eindhoven, Netherlands. (September-December 2018)
Group Show #FUCK REALITY, Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Vienna, Austria. (October – November 2018)
Solo Show Intimate screen, BANFF, Centre for Art & Creativity, Banff, Canada (September 2018)
Group Show Ubiquitous Futures, Click Festival — CONTEMPORARY ART, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY — CATCH, Helsingør, Denmark. (May 2018)
Group Show Maschinenraum at Kalngmanifest Festival, Vienna. (17th January — 10th February 2018)
Solo Show “[BMI] BEIEVER.MACHINE.INTERFACE.” at Schauraum, quartier 21 Electric Avenue, Vienna, Austria. (24th March — 19th May 2017)
Solo Show in collaboration with Carla Cabanas “Intimate archives after media” at Schneiderei Home.Studio.Gallery, Vienna, Austria. (9th February — 2nd March 2017)
Group Show “ZERSTÖREN” at esc medien kunst labor, Graz, Austria. (24th September — 18th November 2016)
Solo Show “Penetrating the black box” at Museum Quartier — Electric Avenue, Vienna, Austria (25th May — 17th June 2016)
Solo Show “Underneath the skin another skin” at Fórum Eugénio de Almeida, Évora, Portugal (15th — 27th April 2016)
Group Show “Artificial Cinema” at Tranzitdisplay, Prague, Czech Republic (19th April — 29th June 2016)
Group Show “Flash back”, CAPC — Cículo de Artes Plásticas de Coimbra, Torres Vedras, Portugal. (9th — 31st January 2016).
Group Show “WhatsAPPROPRIATION a arte de revisitar a arte, Fundição Progresso, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. (9th — 25th October 2015).
Group Show Baba Vasa’s Cellar organized by <dienstag abend>, Shabla, Bulgaria. (8th — 22nd August 2015).
Group Show “Flash back”, Museu José Malhoa, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. (14th May — 14th June 2015).
Group Show “Can’t connect at all”, Friday Exit, Vienna, Austria. (7th — 21st March 2015).
Group Show “Who makes Europe”, Gdanska Galeria Miejska, Gdansk, Poland. (16th January — 3rd March 2015).
Group Show “The Essence” Künstlerhaus Wien, Vienna, Austria. (25th June — 13th July 2014).
Group Show “Quién hace Europa” at Matadero in Madrid, Spain. (7th de June — 14th de July 2013).
Group Show “Something other than Photography: Photo & Media” na Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst Oldenburg, Germany. (26th de June — 15th de September de 2013).
Group show Digital Frictions exhibition held at Weissen haus in Vienna, Austria (2013). Group show Post Screen Festival at the University of Fine Arts in Lisbon, Portugal. (2013)
Solo Show “Penetrating the black box” Galery Luftsteuer Show Window project in Vienna, Austria. ( 24th March — 7th April 2013).
Group show 20 years of Visual Arts ESAD.CR held at Edifício XXI – SOMAFRE, Pólo Tecnológico, Lisbon, Portugal (2011).
Solo show In the Studio, at Valise Studio, Lisbon, Portugal (2010).
Group show Festival Internacional de Arte Contemporânea. held at CCCB – Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona, in Barcelona, Spain (2009).
Group show (curated by Claudia Giannetti, featuring Patricia Reis & Vasco Bila, Zbigniew Rybczynski, Cao Guimarães and David Trujillo), Canariasmediafest (29 October – 7 November), Gran Canaria Espacio Digital, Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain (2008).
Group show, 3rd Prize Ariane de Rothschild, Lx Factory, Lisbon, Portugal. (2007)
Group show, MEGHívÓ, Budapest Galeria, Budapest, Hungary. (2006)
Group show, Passo Próximo (Close Step). Cubic Galery, Lisbon, Portugal. (2005)
Group show, Invited artists, Cerveira Biennale, Centro Cultural de Paredes de Coura (Paredes de Coura Cultural Centre), Paredes de Coura, Portugal (2005).
Group show Invited artists, Centro Cultural Emmerico Nunes, Sines, Portugal. (2005)
Group show, Passo Próximo, Galery Cubic, Lisbon, Portugal. (2004)
Group show ESAD04, at the old installations of the factory CERES, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. (2004)
Group Show, Casa 31, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. (2003)
Group show + Olhares: Filmes à hora certa, (+ Looks: Movies at the right time), video screening at Chapitô, Lisbon, Portugal. (2003).
Group show + Olhares: Filmes à hora certa, video screening, Fundão, Portugal. (2003).
Group show, Video Art, Steinhardt School of Education, New York University, New York, USA. (2003)