top of page
the collective
mal hans mal franz is an artistic collaboration between Julia Polzer and Xava Mikosch, two artists who are based in Vienna and Stockholm.
The collective which was founded in spring 2016, aims to intertwine performative interventions with the public space as well as different mediums such as film and text and people with each other.
Their performances are very context related, illustrating and questioning socio-political issues, to challenge the audience in galleries and in the public space, trying to create questions and dialogues between each other.
Their works have been shown among others at AIL Vienna, Heiligenkreuzerhof Vienna, at the international film and media festival YOUKI in Wels and at the Online-Festival Vienna.
Their current documentary WE WANT MORE IN THE LAND OF UNICORNS is their first feature-length film.
Julia Polzer is a film director, artist and writer, based in Vienna, where she finished her studies in German Philology. She enjoys editing videos and films, taking pictures and writing film critiques and synposes. One of her greatest discoveries in life is her passion for films with documentary approaches.
In Julia's artistic work she likes the challenge of dealing with the given. In this sense she rearranges contexts to open up new spaces, shift realities, raise questions and provoke discussions.
She was engaged in various workshops, single- and group exhibitions or film festivals in Austria and Germany. For a few years she also participated in curating a film festival with a focus on human rights.
Besides her artistic career she is involved in various educational programs by teaching, creating educational videos and offering educational consultation at different institutes in Vienna.
Xava Mikosch is a filmdirector, performance artist and hairdresser based in Stockholm. They finished their diploma in Digital Arts at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna in 2021. While studying Digital Art, they also finished a bachelor’s degree in African Politics at the University of Vienna and at Paris VII approaching decolonial performative strategies.
In many of their recent works they combine video projections and sound with performance and/ or interactive elements.
Coming from the digital arts, using technologies and interdisciplinary medias have always been fundamental tools to express the contents they explore, while deepening their own performative practice through a variety of workshops , performances and classes in Vienna, Porto, Singapore and Stockholm.
In Summer 2023 they were part of the international DanceWEB program at the Impulstanz Festival Vienna and are currently working on their first solo project centered around trans*futuristic tools in the field of contemporary performance.
bottom of page