marvaða talks: Florentina Holzinger

Florentina Holzinger is widely regarded as one of the most daring and innovative voices in contemporary performance. Her signature style fuses spectacular stagecraft and choreography with raw physicality, reimagining cultural norms through a bold, feminist lens.

Celebrated for provocative pieces like TANZ, A Divine Comedy, and Ophelia’s Got Talent, as well as her most recent work A Year without Summer, Holzinger’s's practice spans choreography, opera, theatre and film. In 2026, she will represent Austria at the 61st Biennale Arte in Venice.

This conversation offers a rare opportunity to hear Holzinger reflect on her creative process, artistic evolution, and the ideas driving her experimental approach to performance.

Florentina Holzinger studied choreography at the School for New Dance Development (SNDO) at the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Amsterdam. Her diploma solo Silk won the Prix Jardin d'Europe at the lmPulsTanz Festival 2012. She collaborated with Vincent Riebeek on a trilogy of pieces between 2011 and 2015. While still touring worldwide, TANZ (2019) won several awards, including the Austrian theatre prize "Nestroy" in the category "Best Direction". For the Ruhrtriennale in 2021, Holzinger created her first large-scale work, A Divine Comedy. Her first opera project, SANCTA premiered in 2024. In the same year, she starred her first leading role on the cinema screens in the movie MOND, directed by Kurwin Ayub, which won the Special Jury Prize at the Locarno Film Festival. The creations, Ophelia's Got Talent (2022) and A Year without Summer (2025) are created as an artist-in-residence at the Volksbühne. She will represent Austria at the 61st edition of the Biennale Arte in 2026.

Limited availability and early booking recommended.

Photo: Elsa Okazaki