Julian Palacz, born in 1983 in Leoben, lives and works in Vienna and Mürzzuschlag. He studied Digital Art at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
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Julian Palacz, born in 1983 in Leoben, lives and works in Vienna and Mürzzuschlag. His work is dedicated to the visualization and poetic processing of data that we leave behind digitally, as well as physically, and that is automatically collected by various actors. Studies in Digital Art 2003-2010 at the University of Applied Arts Vienna under Tom Fürstner, Peter Weibel and Virgil Widrich. In 2020-2021, Palacz lectured at the University of Artistic and Industrial Design Linz on surveillance and privacy in the visual arts. Since 2022, he has been teaching at the University of Applied Arts Vienna on art on the blockchain and the artistic exploration of raw data.
The solo exhibition Handle with Care at Forum Stadtpark (2021) and Les murs ont des oreilles at Sotheby's Vienna (2019) mark caesuras in his work. His work has been shown at Casino Luxembourg, Museum of Applied Arts/Vienna, the Museum of Contemporary Art/Belgrade, the ZKM | Center for Art and Media/Karlsruhe, and at Palazzo Zenobio/Venice. In addition, Julian Palacz received the Wimmelforschungs-Stipendium at Bosch Campus Renningen and Akademie Schloss Solitude, the Austrian State Scholarship for Video and Media Art and the Swatch Art Peace Hotel Residency Shanghai.
Exhibitions (selection)
2025Open Studio Days - Vienna Art Week, Atelier Palacz, Vienna, AT, Screening
2020Date me Digital, Quartier am Hafen, Cologne, DE, Screening, curated by Wilko Austermann
2017Pixxelpoint, Kulturni Dom Nova Gorica, Nova Gorica, SI, Screening
2013MashUp Film Festival, Forum des Halles, Paris, FR, Screening
2011Shift Electronic Arts Festival, Haus für elektronische Künste, Basel, CH, Screening, curated by Raffael Doerig
SONICA, MoTA – Museum of Transitory Art, Ljubljana, SI, Screening
Coded Cultures – City as Interface, Vienna, AT, Screening
Ars Electronica – CyberArts, OK Offenes Kulturhaus Oberösterreich, Linz, AT, Screening
FILE – Electronic Language International Festival, SESI Gallery, São Paulo, BR, Screening
Awards (selection)
2027BMWKMS Tokyo Scholarship, Tokyo, JP
2026La Chapelle Saint-Antoine, Agios Antonios, Naxos, GR
2024–2025KUNSTRAUM STEIERMARK Stipend, Amt der Steiermärkischen Landesregierung, AT
2022Abroad Fellowship, New York, US
New Technological Art Award - Finalist, Zebrastraat, Ghent, BE
2021CCA Andratx Fellowship, Mallorca, ES
Büchsenhausen Fellowship, Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen, Innsbruck, AT
Acquisition of the State Art Collection, Bundesministerium für Kunst und Kultur, öffentlichen Dienst und Sport, AT
2018WimmelResearch-Fellowship, Bosch Campus Renningen & Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, DE
Studio Scholarship, Zagreb, HR
2013Shanghai Residency, Swatch Art Peace Hotel, Shanghai, CN
Cube Prize Nominee, Espace Saint-Sauveur, Paris, FR
Honorary Mention Interactive Art, Prix Ars Electronica, Ars Electronica, Linz, AT
Interactive Art Prize, Festival Internacional Multimédia, Portugal, PT
Talks and workshops (selection)
2024KUNSTRAUM STEIERMARK Artist Talk, Mürzzuschlag, AT
2022Design Talk OpenIdea, FH Vorarlberg, Dornbirn, AT
Panel Talk, Austrian Cultural Forum, New York, US
Hacking Perspectives, Universität der Künste, Berlin, DE
2018data like you & me, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, DE
Artist Talk, Klub Mama, Zagreb, HR
2017Guest lecture, Experimentelle Gestaltung, Kunstuniversität, Linz, AT
2012Digital Literature and Media Art, Department of Comparative Literature, University of Vienna, Vienna, AT
2011Artist Lecture, Haus für elektronische Künste, Basel, CH
2010Lecture Algorithmic Search for ‘Memory’ – Theoretical and Practical Possibilities of an Innovative Search Engine for Film Contents, NECS, Kadir Has University, Istanbul, TR
Teaching
2026Prompt, Test, Debug, Repeat – Vibe Coding und Agentic Coding, lecture with exercises, Studio Design and Narrative Media, University of Applied Arts Vienna
2025Raw Data Now! – Künstlerisches Arbeiten mit Rohdaten, lecture with exercises, Studio Design and Narrative Media, University of Applied Arts Vienna
2022–2023Kunst auf der Blockchain, dezentrales Internet und NFTs, lecture with exercises, Coding Lab, University of Applied Arts Vienna, with Julia Staudach
2020–2021Fremde Blicke & Daten-Portraits — Überwachung in der zeitgenössischen Kunst, Department of Art and Education, University of Art and Design Linz
2020Workshop series Fremde Blicke & Daten-Portraits, Transdisciplinary Art (Transarts), University of Applied Arts Vienna
Publications
Artist books
2012Content Type Image. TRAUMAWIEN (print on demand), Vienna, c. 2012. 538 pages.
2010END TELL. TRAUMAWIEN, Vienna, 2010. 740 pages. ISBN 978-3-95029100-1.
Book contributions and proceedings
2025“Do Not Drop (Parcel Series).” In: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X (xCoAx 2025), ed. by Miguel Carvalhais, Mario Verdicchio, Luísa Ribas and André Rangel. ISBN 978-989-9279-05-6.
2021Artist contribution in: Johnny Golding, Martin Reinhart and Mattia Paganelli (eds.), Data Loam. Sometimes Hard, Usually Soft. The Future of Knowledge Systems. Edition Angewandte / De Gruyter, Berlin and Boston, 2021, pp. 266–269. ISBN 978-3-11-068007-2. DOI: 10.1515/9783110697841-025. Open access.
2015Contribution in: Streulicht – Magazin für Fotografie und Artverwandtes, 2015.
2014Contribution in: Nevertheless #8, Atelier Olschinsky, Vienna, 2014.
2012Contribution in: Unpleasant Design, Savicic/Savic, Lausanne, 2012.
2010“Algorithmic Search for Memory — Theoretical and Practical Possibilities of an Innovative Search Engine for Film Contents.” Conference paper, NECS 4th Annual Conference Urban Mediations, Kadir Has University, Istanbul, 2010.
Texts on the work
2022Dejan Grba. “Deep Else: A Critical Framework for AI Art.” MDPI Digital 2, no. 1 (2022), pp. 1–32. DOI: 10.3390/digital2010001.
2020Dejan Grba. “Alpha Version, Delta Signature: Cognitive Aspects of Artefactual Creativity.” Journal of Science and Technology of the Arts 12, no. 3 (2020), pp. 63–83. DOI: 10.34632/jsta.2020.9491.
2018Hannes Bajohr. “Infrathin Platforms: Print on Demand as Auto-Factography.” In: Book Presence in a Digital Age, ed. by Kiene Brillenburg Wurth, Kári Driscoll and Jessica Pressman. Bloomsbury, 2018.
2016Hannes Bajohr. “Experimental Writing in Its Moment of Digital Technization: Post-Digital Literature and Print-on-Demand Publishing.” In: Publishing as Artistic Practice, ed. by Annette Gilbert. Sternberg Press, Berlin, 2016, pp. 100–115.
2015Benjamin Kaufmann. “Surveillance Studies.” wespennest — zeitschrift für brauchbare texte und bilder, no. 169: Mensch und Maschine, Vienna, November 2015.
2012Konstantin Kaiser. “Vogelspuren im Schnee / Traces of Birds in the Snow.” On the solo exhibition of the same name, das weisse haus, Vienna, 2012.
2011J. R. Carpenter. “Paradoxical Print Publishers TRAUMAWIEN.” Jacket2, 18 October 2011.
Exhibition catalogues
2023Bodies of Identities. Casino Luxembourg / EMOP Luxembourg, 2023.
2018/2022Kunstraum Steiermark 2018 and Kunstraum Steiermark 2022. Neue Galerie Graz.
2018TRACE. Wayfinding in Contemporary New Media Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, 2018.
2017Open Codes. Leben in digitalen Welten, ed. by Peter Weibel. ZKM Karlsruhe, 2017.
VIENNA BIENNALE 2017: Robots. Work. Our Future. MAK — Verlag für moderne Kunst, Vienna, 2017.
Interviews and portraits
2023Sonja Harter. “Die digitale Spur als roter Faden.” Kulturportal Land Steiermark, September 2023.
2022Katharina Manojlovic. “import, oh way! Zum Werk von Julian Palacz.” EIKON — Internationale Zeitschrift für Photographie und Medienkunst, October 2022.
2021Daniel Lichterwaldt. “Sichtbarmachung. Julian Palacz.” Les Nouveaux Riches Magazine, 25 May 2021.
Paula Watzl. “HANDLE WITH CARE — Julian Palacz.” Parnass Kunstmagazin, 20 May 2021.
2018“Secrets of Last Summer.” Video feature on Schloss-Post, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, 2018.
2014Roman Gerold. “Das Internet ist mir früher größer vorgekommen.” Der Standard, 8 March 2014.
Collections
Artothek des Bundes (Austrian federal art collection)
Collection of the Province of Styria
City of Vienna Collection
Sammlung Urban, Lower Austria
Studies
2003–2010Digital Art, University of Applied Arts Vienna, with Tom Fürstner, Peter Weibel and Virgil Widrich, diploma with distinction