Severin Hallauer

Severin Hallauer is a Swiss visual artist, actor, and model living in Mexico City and Zurich.

Biography

Hallauer was born in 1996 in Basel and grew up in the rural Northwestern Switzerland. From 2013 to 2014, he completed the preparatory course at the Schule für Gestaltung Basel. In 2014, Hallauer was arrested by the police during an art action at Art Basel on the Messeplatz. The incident attracted attention in the international art world and made headlines.
After completing the preparatory course, Hallauer acted as an actor at the Theater Basel. In 2015, Hallauer made headlines with an art action in which he appeared naked and painted white for the mandatory conscription of the Swiss Army. From 2015 to 2019, Hallauer completed the Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Zurich University of the Arts and in 2018 in the Jankowski class of the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart. In 2019, Hallauer made headlines again during the Sofia Art Week in Bulgaria with a public art action that went viral. In this art action, he appeared naked on monuments, including the famous lion statues in front of the Palace of Justice in Sofia.
Severin Hallauer received the 2021 Award for Visual Arts from the Canton of Solothurn. Also in 2021, Hallauer emigrated to Mexico, where he has since lived and worked in Mexico City alongside his second residence in Zurich.
Hallauer expresses himself in compelling performances and works in various media on philosophical and socio-political issues. His oeuvre includes performance, installation, video, sculpture, painting, and photography.
In addition to his work as a visual artist, Severin Hallauer also appears as an actor and model. Recently, Hallauer was seen in the award-winning short film Heart Fruit by Kim Allamand at the Locarno Film Festival and other international festivals. In 2018, Hallauer performed in The Divine Comedy by Rirkrit Tiravanija at the Fondation Beyeler.

Criticism

Severin Hallauer's work polarizes and receives both recognition and critical feedback. Some critics praise his work as a bold and profound engagement with social and philosophical issues. Others see his actions as excessive self-promotion aimed at scandals. In 2024, Hallauer responded to this criticism in an interview, saying, "Scandal plays no role in my work. I don't sit in my studio imagining how I can provoke my fellow humans. It's an uncompromising honesty that I demand from my art. If viewers feel provoked by my art, it says more about them than about me and my art."

Awards

2021: Visual Arts Award of the Canton of Solothurn

Exhibitions (selection)

2018: Academiae – Youth Art Biennial, Franzensfeste
2019: Das Unbegreifliche Schweigen Der Welt, Gasträume 2019 | Zurich
2019: what do you want me to believe in?, Æther Art Space, Sofia Art Week, Sofia
2021: Infinitum You, Allda, Zurich
2021: InRelation, I see you now, Schlumpf, Riehen
2021: Loving Switzerland, Künstlerhaus S11, Kantonale Förderpreise 2021, Solothurn
2022: entrée&hommage, M54, Basel
2023: Eros Y Ambigüedad, Galeria Luis Adelantado, Mexico City
2023: Eros Y Ambigüedad, Galeria Revuelta, Mexico City
2024: Radical Joy, Riverfront Art Gallery, Yonkers Public Library, Yonkers, New York

Performances (selection)

2015: L‘individue neutre, Rekrutierungszentrum, Windisch
2016: In between the complexes, ACT Performance Festival 16, Théâtre de L‘Usine, Geneva
2017: J’ai tué mon ami, ACT Performance Festival 17, Merian Gärten, Basel
2017: reflection, Kunstfreitag, Kunstverein, Friedrichshafen
2019: duality, Sommerfest, Kunsthalle Bern
2019: nude and monument, Sofia Art Week, Æther Art Space Sofia
2019: redshift, Kunstraum Aarau
2020: I just want to be visible, Queer Sex Health Festival, Kosmos, Zurich
2020: Surfaces, Bagno Popolare, Baden
2020: Unos Pro Omnibus Omnes Pro Oeconomia, Paradeplatz, Zurich

Filmography (selection)

2017: Carvel – Fall For Me
2017: Len Sander – Woman on the Run
2017: Space Tourists – Dagger Child
2018: Enoxaiar
2019: nothing is quite as it seems
2019: The Burden Remains – Fluid
2021: Heart Fruit
2021: ''Livia Rita – Muscle of Freedom''

Theater (selection)

2015: Hamlet, Theater Basel
2016: Médée, Opera, Theater Basel
2017: Es war ein mal ein Einsam, Theater in allen Räumen 17, Theater der Künste, Zurich
2018: Lachsfrühstück für 1 Person, Theater in allen Räumen 18, Theater der Künste, Zurich
2019: I say I shoot you. you are dead, Gruppe CIS, Theater Rampe, Stuttgart, Sophiensääle, Berlin
2020: Abschied, Festival der Liebe VI, Kulturhaus Helferei, Zurich