projects
98/330 lb (44/150 kg)
This series compares the different physical presence of a very heavy man imitating the poses of a super-thin fashion model.
Pink
People dressed in pink merge with their visually exaggerated, sugar-sweet treats in an old-school New York diner.
Chinese Fast Food
This series, shot in a temporary food court set up inside Beijing’s Olympic Park, reveals a visually and viscerally overloaded fast-food culture that may make some mouths water and other bellies ache. Hitzenberger concentrates on the saturated visual displays of the food stalls and the way the environment contrasts with the boredom of the workers, offering an insight into some of the contradictions in contemporary Chinese culture.
Inner Circle
On the outskirts of Beijing lies a two-mile (3 km) area bounded by a completely circular railroad track. Inside this circle exists a variety of different worlds, rich in contrast and jumbled together. As part of my ongoing projects based on confined spaces, I was fascinated by this microcosm and spent two months researching this area with my camera, creating structural images of the many seemingly arbitrary and unplanned elements found inside the circle: a small village, a recycling plant, corn fields, China’s national film museum, flocks of grazing sheep, artist studios, abandoned building developments and luxury homes for the elderly.
Elevated Acre
The series "Elevated Acre" was developed in New York City in collaboration with Mihoko Suzuki (pictured), as part of the ongoing project "The Body and Space." It was exhibited at the Huantie Times International Gallery, Beijing, China, in October 2011.
Portraits of a City
In “Portraits of a City,” Anja photographed immigrants living in Salzburg, Austria, photographing one person each from as many countries as could be found, in locations of their choice. The project was commissioned by the 2010 Salzburg Szene Festival, and the photos were shown in a large-scale outdoor exhibition, on two bridges in the center of town and along the river Salzach. A catalogue was published as part of this show. There were 120 photos in the exhibition (Anja shared this project with photographer Anusha S. Yadav); this set of images is a selection of Anja's photos.
50 Villages
David Zambrano’s “50 Villages” project took a small, international group of exceptional performers to 50 small villages around the world, to perform in main squares, farmers markets and schools. I’ve collaborated with David for many years, and I was glad to have the opportunity to document the tours through Costa Rica, South Korea, Poland and Slovenia. David was accompanied by two wonderful performers—Edivaldo Ernesto and Horacio Macuacua—both from Mozambique. In Korea the three dancers were joined by Young Cool Park (Seoul) and in Slovenia by Nina Fajdiga (Ljubljana). David Zambrano's mission in life is to bring people from all over the world together through dance and this project is the perfect example of that.
Bild
“Bild” (or “Picture”) is an exploration of how landscapes and urban spaces can be seen and experienced differently by a performer, a photographer and pedestrians. It was also an examination of how, through the photographer’s eye, the presence of a human body can affect the way we perceive these different environments. This project was developed in collaboration with choreographer Lisa Hinterreithner, who is shown in these images in Warsaw (Poland) and Abtenau (Austria). These photographs were first shown in October 2008 at Galerie Fotohof in Salzburg, Austria as part of the tanz_house festival.
Changing Room
An exploration of the relationship of the human body to architectural spaces. Each week, Anja photographed performers of different body shapes and movement backgrounds. Each week also brought a new installation by architect/designer Illya Azaroff, as well as live performances in the space, an abandoned photo lab in Lower Manhattan.
The Paris Film
This new short film is a visual short story inspired by the work of Argentine writer Julio Cortázar, starring Jimena Paz and directed by Edward Ratliff and Anja Hitzenberger.
“Normalzeit” Book Project
I was commissioned to create portraits of 11 Austrian artists, as well as document them in their creative process, for the recently published book Normalzeit. The artists each created a new work out of an old Viennese landmark: the huge, four-faced, cube-shaped clocks installed high above the city streets. Thanks to the team at Lichterloh for inviting me to be part of this wonderful book!