VICTORIA HALPER

DIRECTOR | ACTOR | VIDEO & MEDIA ARTIST | PRODUCER

LINIE Q. With Simon Dietersdorfer & Victoria Halper. Photo: Apollonia Theresa Bitzan.
LINIE Q. With Simon Dietersdorfer & Victoria Halper. Photo: Apollonia Theresa Bitzan.

Now or soon:

Early 2024

Residency at the Centre for Art and Media Karlsruhe for:
Mid '24/"[EOL]. End of Life" <VR> a DARUM and brut Wien coproduction (Vienna, Austria)

More Info >> www.darum.at

Artistic direction | Story | Videos | Research | Performance

Brooklyn Film Festival--USA  - June 3rd, 2024 /"The tightrope walker with his daughter on his shoulders crossing the Danube Canal at a height of 40 metres<FILM> an experimental film

Directing | Editing

  

Avaiable online until 2031

anytime/"404-TOTLINK" <INTERNET> a hyperlink installation available in german online (World)

Artistic direction | Text | Videos | Programming | Research | Graphics | Producing

 

Preproduction 

Premiere September '24/"[EOL]. End of Life<VRa DARUM and brut Wien coproduction (Vienna, Austria)
April/May '25/"Alle Lust" (Working Title) <PERFORMANCE a DARUM performative installation (Vienna, Austria)

 

Follow me on Facebook for up-to-date information and performance dates.

Click for Media

About me:

Born 1988 in Toronto.

Canadian/Austrian Transnational. 2nd daughter of a carpenter/electrician and a secretary, both immigrants.

Studied Acting and Directing at the University of Toronto.

Received her Honours BA with Distinction and got on plane emigrating to Vienna in 2010.

 

Assisted directors at Volkstheater Wien, Schauspielhaus Graz, Raimundspiele Gutenstein and Landestheater Niederösterreich (Ingo Berk, Sabine Derflinger, Rupert Henning, Sandy Lopičić, Enrico Lübbe, Alia Luque, Hakan Savaş Mican, Simon Windisch, Sarantos Zervoulakos...)

Worked part-time as a video editor for video2brain/LinkedIn.

 

Started directing, acting in, editing and producing theatre and films while living in Linz, Austria (2013-2016). Productions included the Austrian Premieres of "East of Berlin" by Hannah Moscovitch & "Bitch Boxer" by Charlotte Josephine and her debut mid-length feature film "Kommissar Taler", which won Best Ensemble at the Upper Austria in Film Festival. Victoria was awarded the Cultural Medal from the city of Traun for her work in the region.

 

Moved back to Vienna in 2016.

Kick-start with the Newcomer Scholarship for Performing Arts from the Austrian Federal Chancellery 2018.

Experimentation with new forms, styles and technology: Essay performances ("Dad Left"), Contemporary circus ("Lustvoll" and "Debris"), immersive theatre, performative installations, video art, experimental film, web art and playful forms of gamified theatre in public spaces (Play:Vienna).

 

Along with director Kai Krösche, Victoria creates interdisciplinary and experimental art under the label of DARUM. The FALTER newspaper's Top 10 of 2018, the immersive performative installation "Uninvited Guests" and the hybrid documentary film "Exit: Open" were each nominated for the NESTROY in 2019 and 2020. In 2021 the Impulse Theater Festival in Cologne, Germany featured DARUMs web-based hyperlink installation "404-TOTLINK" - this project is available online for the next 10 years (at least).

 

As film editor and producer, her work has been invited to various film festivals around the globe. "Exit: Open" premiered at the Hof International Film Festival in Germany. "Kommissar Taler" celebrated its International Premiere in Rome, Italy. The short film "Gegenschein" which, she also stars in, will be premiered at the 39th Flickers Rhode Island Film Festival and was screened at the Five Lakes Film Festival Bavaria, Festival of Nations Upper Austria, Filmets Badalona Spain and Minikino Bali Indonesia.

 

Her most recent productions in 2022 were directed with Kai Krösche under the label of DARUM:  "Letzter Aufguss" (Final Infusion), an immersive site-specific labyrinth filled with the ghosts of Germany's past, co-produced with Schauspiel Leipzig, and performed at the abandoned Stasi Sauna in Leipzig. Their third Viennese production, "Heimweh" (Homesick), which dealt with the decades-long structural crimes against thousands of children and young adults in both church and municipal children's homes in Austria, was deemed one of the 10 most outstanding productions of 2022 by FALTER and the virtual Nachtkritik-Theatertreffen and garnered his third nomination and first win for the Special Award at the 2023 NESTROYs.

 

2023 marks a year with more experimentation in film and video art: Her debut experimental film "Floating Flies" premiered at the Diagonale '23 in Graz and celebrated its international premiere at the renowed Seattle International Film Festival in the USA. In June she performed in and was responsible for the video installations in the mulitmedia 'no escape room' "Linie Q" (directed by: Kai Krösche; written by: Emre Akal & James Stanson). In November, the multimedia experiemental circus production "Eisemann" will premiere at the On the Edge Festival in Theater am Werk Vienna, Austria directed with her long-time collaboration partner Kai Krösche, she also filmed and edited the accompaning video art.

 

Late Fall, she will be embarking on an international residency grant supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Art at the "Zentrum für Kunst und Medien" in Karlsruhe, Germany to research VR and Metaverses for DARUM's upcoming projects as part of their 2-year grant from the city of Vienna. 

 

Facebook / Instagram / YouTube / Twitter / ORF-Portrait (2015)

Artistic Work (full):

View or download my full CV here

Artistic Work (most recent):

2024

"[EOL]. End of Life" <VR> a DARUM and brut Wien coproduction (Vienna, Austria)

Directing | Story | Videos | Research | Performance
A DARUM and brut Wien Coproduction; Development supported by the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany.

 

"The tightrope walker with his daughter on his shoulders crossing the Danube Canal at a height of 40 metres<FILM> an experimental film 

Directing | Editing | Camera

* World Premiere at Brooklyn Film Festival (USA)

 

 

2023

"Eisemann<PERFORMANCE> an multimedia-experimental circus performance

Directing | Video Installations
Debut production of the On The Edge Festival with Theater am Werk (Vienna, Austria)

 

"Linie Q<PERFORMANCE> a no escape room; written by Emre Akal & James Stanson; directed by Kai Krösche

Video Installations | Performance

A WUK performing arts coproduction

 

"Floating Flies<FILM> an experimental film 

Directing | Performance | Text | Editing | Camera Producing

A DARUM production

* World Premiere at the Diagonale - Festival of Austrian Film (Austria)

* Official Selection at Seattle (International Premiere), Brooklyn (USA), Montecatini (Italy), Canberra (Australia), Brussels (Belgium), Ribalta (Italy), art+film+vienna (Austria)

* Semi-Finalist at Flickers' Rhode Island (USA)

 

2022

"Heimweh<PERFORMANCE> a performative installation in 3 attempts, engl. title "Homesick"

Directing | Video Installations | Performance | Research

A DARUM and WUK performing arts coproduction

* NESTROY Nomination 2023 for the Special Award (Austria)

* Virtual nachtkritik-Theatertreffen Top 10 (Germany)

* Falter Top 10 in 2022 (Austria)

 

"Letzter Aufguss<PERFORMANCE> a site-specific performative installation, engl. title "Final Infusion"

Directing | Video Installations | Research

A coproduction by Schauspiel Leipzig and DARUM

  

2021

"Herostrat" by Jean-Paul Sartre <STAGEDirected by Kai Krösche

Acting

In cooperation with WERK X-Petersplatz

 

"404-TOTLINK<INTERNETweb-based hyperlink installation

Artistic direction | Text | Videos | Programming | Research | Graphics | Producing

A DARUM and Impulse Theater Festival coproduction

 

2020

"Ausgang: Offen" / "Exit: Open" <FILM> performative installation turned experimental documentary film

Directing | Performance | Editing & Colour Correction | Research | Text | Producing

Feature length film, 98 Minutes, 4K 50fps, AT.

A DARUM and WUK performing arts coproduction

* NESTROY Nomination 2020 for the Special Corona Award (Austria)

* World Premiere at the 54th Hof International Film Festival (Germany)

* Official Selection at the 15th Five Lakes Film Festival (Germany)

* Official Selection "Frame Extended" at the 26th Split Film Festival (Croatia)

 

"Gegenscheinby James Stanson <FILMDirected by Kai Krösche & Kolja Burgschuld 

Acting | Editing & Colour Correction | Producing

Short Film, 15 Minutes, Drama, 4K, AT.

* World Premiere at the 15th Five Lakes Film Festival (Germany)

* Official Selection at Festival of Nations (Lenzing, Austria), Minikino Filmweek (Bali, Indonesia), Filmets (Badalona, Spain)

 

"Ungebetene Gäste: Was Bleibt?<STAGERemount+Revision / engl. Title: "Uninvited Guests: What's Left?"

Artistic direction | Text | Performance | Videos | Research | Producing

A lecture performance by DARUM in cooperation with WERK X-Petersplatz, Premiered October 16th

 

"Alt. Ein Robotermusicial" by bum bum pieces <STAGEDirected by: Simon Windisch

Acting

A play with live music. Premiered January 12th at the WUK Projektraum

Invited to the 2021 SHÄXPIR Festival in Linz, Upper Austria.

 

"Die Sieder von Süd-Wien<INTERNET/PERFORMANCEplayful city performance with and for citizens in 3 Viennese neighbourhoods

Artistic contribution | Research 

A coproduction by Play:Vienna and Werk X, funded by SHIFT III

 

2019

"Ungebetene Gäste" and "Ungebetene Gäste: Was Bleibt?", <PERFORMANCE/STAGEperformative installation and lecture performance / engl. titles "Uninvited Guests" and "Uninvited Guests: What's Left?"

Artistic direction | Text | Performance | Videos | Research | Producing

A search for clues and lecture performance by DARUM in cooperation with WERK-X Petersplatz

* NESTROY Nomination 2019 for the Special Corona Award (Austria)

* Falter Top 10 in 2019 (Austria)

* Official Selection for the 2020 Impulse Theater Festival (Germany)

 

"Dad Left<STAGE> an essay performance about leaving and not coming back 

Directing | Acting | Text | Videos | Producing

In cooperation with WERK X-Petersplatz, premiered on May 23rd

 

"Debris<STAGEby Victoria Halper and Kai Krösche

Directing & Devising | Producing

A contemporary circus production by Momomento, Premiered in November at the Fabrik Seestadt, Vienna.

 

2018

"Lustvoll<STAGEa performance about lust

Directing & Devising

A contemporary circus production by Momomento, Premiered mid-September at Theater Oberzeiring (Festival of Premieres).

Additional performances at Kristallwerk Graz and Theater Brett Vienna

 

"Zukunftsbüro<PERFORMANCEa performance festival about the future 

Idea & performance "Back your happiness" | Performance "If I were mayor..."

A project by the Landestheater Niederösterreich and makemake productions all over St. Pölten, Lower Austria.

 

"Arschgesicht" <FILM> a music video by Herr Magister

Editing

Music video, 3:56 minutes, 4K, ES/AT.

Visuals:

Contact Info/Imprint:

Victoria Halper

Löblichgasse 6/16

1090 Vienna

Austria

+43 664 3186191

victoria.halper@gmail.com

@victoriahalper