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Fabian Schäfer (*1986, lives and works in Frankfurt am Main) is an interdisciplinary artist and theorist. His multimedia practice operates at the intersection of eco-art, queer ecology, posthuman theory, and new materialism. In his work, he explores the relationship between humans, nature, and the unconscious as an interwoven field of material, psychic, and socio-ecological processes, developing a research-based practice that combines artistic production with theoretical inquiry. At the core of his work are the relationships between human and non-human actors, as well as the investigation of urban and natural ecologies.
Schäfer works across media, including installation, printmaking, sculpture, and process-based formats. His methodology is grounded in field research, observation, and experimental engagement with materials, often incorporating organic elements such as fungi or lichens.
Alongside his artistic practice, Schäfer contributes to lectures and theoretical discourse, including at the conference “Verwoben” at the International Psychoanalytic University Berlin and at “Zoöp Connections: Residencies, Regeneration and Cultural Relations” at the Nieuwe Instituut.
He has been an artist-in-residence at Zoöp Connections (Amsterdam) and Medienfrische (Austria), and has exhibited his work in, among other places, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.
As part of the collective mania, Schäfer works collaboratively on forms of artistic counter-research and alternative knowledge practices, and is also active in curatorial and discursive contexts, including panel discussions and transdisciplinary art festivals.
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Exhibitions:
2025 ”becoming with“, solo exhibition, Werkbund Hessen, Frankfurt am Main
2025 ”Concrete Ecologies“, solo exhibition, De Ceuvel, Amsterdam
2025 ”Wir sind nicht die einzige Art von Wir“, solo exhibition, Gallery-Bund Offenbacher Künstler, Offenbach am Main
2024 ”Zweitheiten“, group exhibition, Netzwerk Seilerei, Frankfurt am Main
2024 ”Dif_fusion“, group exhibition, Alte Schmelze, Frankfurt am Main
2022 ”Leer-Zeiten“, solo exhibition, 17qm Gallery, Marburg
2022 Kunsttage, group exhibition, Marburg-Biedenkopf
2020 Artinea 2020, group exhibition, Schloss Rauischholzhausen
2020 ”Zwischen-Welten“, group exhibition, IKJG e.V., Marburg
2019 ”Eine künstlerische Reise in die Psychedelik“, group exhibition, Q Marburg
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Artist in Residence:
2025 Zoöp Connections, De Ceuvel Amsterdam, Goethe-Institut and EUNIC Netherlands
2024 Medienfrische-new media and experimental art, Bschlabertal, Austria
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Artist Talks and Lectures:
2025 ”Zoöp Connections: Residencies, Regeneration and Cultural Relations“, Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam
2025 ”What is a Zoöp? Non-human Perspectives in Art and Urban Ecology“, Werkbund Hessen, Frankfurt am Main
2025 ”Interwoven: Subjects Beyond Autonomy and Dissolution“, interdisciplinary conference, International Psychoanalytic University Berlin, Lecture: “Puma Runa: Entangled Subjectivity, Indigenous Epistemologies, and the Knowledge Potential of Eco-Art“
2025 ”Between Nature and Culture: Why We Need New Narratives“, BOK Gallery, Offenbach am Main
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Grants:
2025 Hessian Studio Support Programme „Hessenweit“ with mania collective, basis e.V., Frankfurt am Main
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Publications:
2025 Wir sind nicht die einzige Art von Wir, artist catalog, limited to 50 editions
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Research expeditions:
2020 Kyrgyzstan: scientific excursion – nomadic culture, geology, forestry, botany
2019 Nepal: Exploring biodiversity in the high mountains, Annapurna Area
2018 Mexico: Sierra Norte (indigenous highland culture) – Solo Ascent, Orizaba (5600 Meter)
2016 Italy: Val Grande National Park- In the footsteps of the partisans
2016 Norway: Water excursion with the Canadian, Femundsmarka National Park
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Curation:
2024 Curation and organizer of the art series „artkin groove“ by the art collective “mania”
2022 ”Anthropozän-Der Versuch einer Deutung“, Andreas L. Berg, Photo-Spectrum-Marburg
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Collective:
Member and founder of the art collective „mania“