Teresa Retzer

Teresa Retzer is a curator, writer, and critic with a background in art history, philosophy, and media theory, educated in Vienna, Siena, Zurich, and Basel. Her work operates at the intersection of live art, new media, performance, and discursive formats.

She has curated at the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe and Haus der Kunst Munich, contributed to the performance program of Manifesta 11 in Zurich, and developed independent projects in Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna, and international contexts. Her writing appears in exhibition catalogues and international magazines; she also lectures and speaks on panels about digital and technology-based art, crypto practices, and current socio-political developments shaping artistic movements. Since 2017, she has been researching right-wing extremist subcultures in Germany, Europe, and the U.S., integrating these investigations into independent curatorial projects.

A formative experience was her work with the NGO Artists at Risk (AR), in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut and the German Federal Foreign Office, where she supported artists from Afghanistan and Ukraine in finding safe places to live and work. She consistently incorporates the political and social conditions of artistic production into her curatorial practice and critically reflects on the global structures of the art system. Her focus lies on artistic positions that address social and political urgencies and extend beyond purely aesthetic concerns.

Her curatorial vision is grounded in inclusivity, accessibility, and the creation of responsive art spaces that foster exchange, reflection, intimacy, and collective learning. For her, digital and time-based art, as well as performance, dance, and theater—art forms that create shared spaces of experience—serve as tools to transmit knowledge, engage diverse publics, and critically negotiate contemporary social challenges.