Janine Maria Schneider
Exchange grant between Bregenz and Barcelona
May - June 2022
Janine Maria Schneider. Dornbirn, 1986
In her artistic practice, Janine Maria Schneider negotiates issues around body identity in and through public space, architecture and spatial politics. She prefers to work with the media of photography, video, installation and performance. She is particularly interested in which way designed space affects people’s performance and vice versa. Schneider’s artistic practice is borne by a long-standing interest in how cultural guiding ideas and political decisions manifest themselves, especially in public space.
In her current work, her research is guided by questions that address the identity of those who contribute to shaping and maintaining our society, to what extent and with which resources. Furthermore, she is intrigued by the kind of private or public recognition these people receive, since the biographies and lifeworlds of different people do not receive the same recognition. How does this affect the visibility of these people in public space? Within her photographic work, Schneider tries to uncover how representation functions through photography. This involves both the moment of capturing and the moment of recollection of the produced images.
Schneider studied Performative Art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and Gender Studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. In 2021 she was nominated for the Culture Prize in the field of photography by the Federal State Vorarlberg.
Photo: Nicolé Mayer, conservator, 2021, photography, 39 x 51cm (framed), © Janine Maria Schneider Sculpture: Robert Indermaur
