Fritz Polzer was born in Heidelberg, West Germany, in 1983.
He studied politics and International Relations at the University of Kent with a year at Sciences Po in Paris, doing an internship with the UN in Geneva before working in fashion PR in Paris and London. After a stint as fashion editor at AnOther Man magazine in London, he went on to study film production and pursued an MA in documentary filmmaking at the National Film School in the UK, focusing on observational filmmaking in the tradition of cinéma vérité with Kim Longinotto. He also obtained a Master of Fine Arts from the Braunschweig School of Art in the class of Candice Breitz.
Fritz takes an (auto-)ethnographic approach to analyzing Western culture, predominantly through film, video, analogue photography and text. In his work, he appears as a participating observer and includes his own mechanisms and modes of action or inaction, dealing directly with his environment and, more specifically, with the culture of the privileged middle class that dominates wider society. In this regard, Fritz shifts his gaze to highlight structures of taste that maintain the status quo in subtle but no less violent ways. Fritz is regularly engaged to conduct ethnographic video research, predominantly in Germany and the U.K. and lives between London, Berlin and Valderice, Sicily.
Screenings and Group Shows:
DOK Leipzig, 2024
Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn (part of group performance of the class of Candice Breitz), 2023
Reinbeckhallen, Berlin (Video installation as part of Glen Sheppard's Until the Waters foam up), 2023
Winnipeg UFF, 2023
ALC Videoart Festival, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Alicante, 2022
Cigarreras, group show curated by ACOA (Contemporary artists from Alicante), 2022
European Media Arts Festival (EMAF) Campus, Speak so I can see you, Kunstverein Hase29, Osnabrück, Germany 2022
Attaque(e)r le Visible, Raum für drastische Massnahmen, Berlin, 2022
Kunstverein DIE H_LLE e.V., group show, Braunschweig, 2021
Kassel Dok and Video Fest 2013 and 2021
Boredom is not a Luxury, group show at the Forge, London, 2021
Between the Floorboards, group show, London, 2021
Stuttgarter Filmwinter, 2013 and 2020
Film und Videofest Belgrade 2020
Tampere Film Fest 2015
Interfilm Berlin 2014
MIT European Filmfest, 2014
International Short Film Festival Detmold 2013
Guanajuato International Film Festival 2013
Upsalla Film Fest 2013
Zinebi Bilbao 2013
Abu Dhabi International Film Fest 2012
Education:
2023: Diplom (Master of Arts), class of Candice Breitz, Braunschweig University of Art, Germany.
2016: Master of Arts, National Film and TV School, UK.
2007: Bachelor: Politics and International Relations with French, University of Kent, UK.
2005: Program International, Sciences Po, Paris, France.
He studied politics and International Relations at the University of Kent with a year at Sciences Po in Paris, doing an internship with the UN in Geneva before working in fashion PR in Paris and London. After a stint as fashion editor at AnOther Man magazine in London, he went on to study film production and pursued an MA in documentary filmmaking at the National Film School in the UK, focusing on observational filmmaking in the tradition of cinéma vérité with Kim Longinotto. He also obtained a Master of Fine Arts from the Braunschweig School of Art in the class of Candice Breitz.
Fritz takes an (auto-)ethnographic approach to analyzing Western culture, predominantly through film, video, analogue photography and text. In his work, he appears as a participating observer and includes his own mechanisms and modes of action or inaction, dealing directly with his environment and, more specifically, with the culture of the privileged middle class that dominates wider society. In this regard, Fritz shifts his gaze to highlight structures of taste that maintain the status quo in subtle but no less violent ways. Fritz is regularly engaged to conduct ethnographic video research, predominantly in Germany and the U.K. and lives between London, Berlin and Valderice, Sicily.
Screenings and Group Shows:
DOK Leipzig, 2024
Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn (part of group performance of the class of Candice Breitz), 2023
Reinbeckhallen, Berlin (Video installation as part of Glen Sheppard's Until the Waters foam up), 2023
Winnipeg UFF, 2023
ALC Videoart Festival, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Alicante, 2022
Cigarreras, group show curated by ACOA (Contemporary artists from Alicante), 2022
European Media Arts Festival (EMAF) Campus, Speak so I can see you, Kunstverein Hase29, Osnabrück, Germany 2022
Attaque(e)r le Visible, Raum für drastische Massnahmen, Berlin, 2022
Kunstverein DIE H_LLE e.V., group show, Braunschweig, 2021
Kassel Dok and Video Fest 2013 and 2021
Boredom is not a Luxury, group show at the Forge, London, 2021
Between the Floorboards, group show, London, 2021
Stuttgarter Filmwinter, 2013 and 2020
Film und Videofest Belgrade 2020
Tampere Film Fest 2015
Interfilm Berlin 2014
MIT European Filmfest, 2014
International Short Film Festival Detmold 2013
Guanajuato International Film Festival 2013
Upsalla Film Fest 2013
Zinebi Bilbao 2013
Abu Dhabi International Film Fest 2012
Education:
2023: Diplom (Master of Arts), class of Candice Breitz, Braunschweig University of Art, Germany.
2016: Master of Arts, National Film and TV School, UK.
2007: Bachelor: Politics and International Relations with French, University of Kent, UK.
2005: Program International, Sciences Po, Paris, France.