Sophia Leitenmayer is an artist working with sound, performance, objects, and video. Their working method is fluid, ephemeral, and process-oriented and includes creating spaces for art and curation. This is accompanied by fields of research: self-organization, archives, remembrance practices, funeral eulogy, rest and desire.
Currently, Leitenmayer works on prostheses, non-functioning bodies, and the repair of different live forms and explores mycelium materials. Previous works focused on the water systems of cities, which the artist is listening to and resonating with by using hydrophone and saxophone.
Collective and interdisciplinary approaches are an integral part of their practice. In 2019 they founded the off-space orbit.altona, Hamburg, and in 2021 they started working as co-curator of Hyper Cultural Passengers, Hamburg as part of the international artist network Portjourneys.
They studied with Michaela Melián and Kader Attia at Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg 2016-2024 and graduated with Master of Fine Arts.
Leitenmayer has been awarded several prizes, including the Willi Münzenberg Award for the most socially relevant film (2021) and the Hamburg Young Filmmakers Award (2022). Their works have been exhibited at Neuer Kunstverein Wien, Kunstverein Springhornhof, HYCP Hamburg, Studio Peragine, Delphi Space, and ((NYT)) Art Space Berlin. Solo exhibitions include ‘Three River Pieces’ at Ono Point Space Yokohama, ‘Kinderbrille’ at Galerie für Gegenwartskunst EWERK Freiburg, and ‘Papierfischchen’ at Galerie Genscher Hamburg.
exhibitions (selection)
2024 »ex libris« art book fair at extended library, HFBK Hamburg
2024 »table of contents«, hinterconti, Hamburg
2024 »Under The Skin«, Galerie Jena Kulturbahnhof, DE
2024 »hundert зуу« ,Red Ger Gallery, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
2024 solo show »Three River Pieces«, Ono Point, Yokohama, JP
2024 »7 Seeds«, Yokohama Triennale, Zou-No-Hana Terrace, Yokohama, JP
2023 »Ein Sturm verschwindender Wörter«, with Cristina Rüesch, NYT, Berlin, DE
2023 »Floating Transmissions«, MS Stubnitz, Hamburg, DE
2023 »Tapete unter Algenteppich«, Schute, Hamburg, DE
2023 »Mean Sea Level«, HYCP, Hamburg, DE
2023 »Erinnern – Sonic Narratives«, HYCP, Hamburg, DE
2023 solo show »Papierfischchen«, Galerie Genscher, Hamburg, DE
2023 »ENERGIE:ENERGEIA«, Delphi Space, Freiburg, DE
2023 »Time Based Art is Magic«, Studio Peragine Hamburg, DE
2022 »No Escape Room«, MS Stubnitz Hamburg, DE
2022 Independent Space Index / »BIP«, Neuer Kunstverein Wien, Vienna, AT
2022 »Heide«, Kunstverein Springhornhof, DE
2022 »Rapid Rabbit Reloaded«, Frappant Galerie, Hamburg, DE
2022 »Close Up Hamburger Film- und Kinogeschichten«, Altonaer Museum, Hamburg, DE
2022 »From Hamburg with Love«, Avalon Café, London, GB
2022 »Helft meinem Vogel aus der Patsche«, Orbit, Hamburg, DE
2021 »Moderne Kommunikationsmittel verleihen Macht.«, FMP1 Berlin, DE
2021 solo show »Kinderbrille«, Galerie für Gegenwartskunst, EWERK Freiburg, DE
2021 »So Close / So Far #03«, HYCP, Hamburg, DE
2020 »nocturne«, Kunsthaus L6, Freiburg, DE
2020 »slow analogue sky surve«, Galerie LaDøns Hamburg, DE
2020 »If you water water it grows«, HFBK Galerie, Hamburg, DE
2019 »Magische Dystopie«, MOM Art Space, Hamburg, DE
2017 »The Worst Case«, Bunkerhill Galerie, Hamburg, DE
publications, cataloques & press (selection)
2023 »ENERGIE:ENERGEIA«, Delphi Space, Freiburg
2023 »Mean Sea Level«, HYCP, Hamburg
2023 »Die Kunst von der Kunst zu leben«, BPW, Equal Pay Day
2023 »Whisper Whisper«, KubaParis
2022 »Independence and Self-Organization«, artist talk
2022 »Counter-Monuments and Para-Monuments. Contested Memory in Public Space«, symposium
2021 »So Close / So Far« #3
2021 »So Close / So Far« #1
2021 »step by step city walks«, seminar and walks
2020 »Walk by the open we«, online conference
performances
2024 sound performance »Ancestral« with Carlos León Zambrano at ((NYT)) sound art space, Berlin
2024 cooking performance »Politics Of Love« by Hiwa K. with Alima at HYCP in collaboration with Kunsthaus Hamburg 2024 Upstream #7: SURGE sound performance »Milky Sequencer« with Louise Vind Nielsen at MS Stubnitz, Hamburg
2024 sound performance »fngr fuia«: 11./12./13./14.07. »Index F« 10.08. at Curious Lab Hamburg; 07.09. at Zus Fest Hamburg; 22.11. »Cochlear Amplifier« at Werkhaus Hamburg 2024 Fight Flight Fawn Freeze with Jori Kehn 2023 »Seefrauenparade«
2023 »Klassentreffen«, HFBK, Hamburg, DE
2022 »Para-City-Walk Monument against Fascism«
collaborations and contributions
»aufheben« by Michaela Melián, Hans Otte. Klanghaus, Weserburg, Bremen, DE
»na escada« by Dörte Habighorst, Elena Friedrich, Hinterconti, Hamburg, DE
archive movies for show »timebased media is magic« by Ute Janssen, Studio Peragine, Hamburg, DE
»climates of relating« by Paulina Laskowski
curated shows
Seven Seeds - communication under trees - Yokohama
Veddel Art Weeks 1 - 2 - 3
Veddel Art Walk
So Close / So Far #1 - Video Screening into the summer night
2017 “Too Early Works”, Elektrohaus, Hamburg, DE
workshops
Veddel Art Camp 1 - 2 - 3
Chasing Clouds
Telling is learning
Silent / Тиха / SESSIZ / Тихая – Raum zum Zeichnen
[f]ocal point, video workshop at Leh, Ladakh, India