10 Questions with Antonia-Maria Platzer
Antonia-Maria Platzer, also known as softshell hardcore, is a multi-disciplinary artist and designer originally from South Tyrol, Italy. They have been living in various places since then, expanding on their artistic practice through being exposed to different cultures.
At age sixteen, they left their home and went to Mbabane, Eswatini, to study at UWC Waterford Kamhlaba, which then led them to move to the U.S. in 2016. They completed their Bachelor in Fine Arts at the California Institute of the Arts in 2020, as well as did an exchange semester at the Universität der Künste Berlin in 2019.
Currently, they are working as a freelance artist based in Berlin, Germany.
Antonia-Maria Platzer - Portrait
ARTIST STATEMENT
The main interest within their practice involves creating a cosmos of their own in which they can manifest a colorful safe haven for their inner child or, as they like to call it, a ‘revolution for softies’, based on real-life experiences as well as research-based symbologies, theories, and storytelling from around the world.
The media they are currently expressing such in is painting, sewing, and AI work, which are all extensions of each other. In their visual work, they explore more the environment in which the characters they make live. The costume-styled sewing projects are expanding the characters into the 3D realm, activating them as radical entities/magical warriors, disintegrating patriarchal structures through color and ‘softness’. The AI is a new tool they are using and it mostly acts as their inspiration and studio companion.
The thematics that inspire these environments stem from a desire to regain a place of justice for those who do not wish to participate in competitive but rather complementary living. Softshell hardcore is potentially a lifelong project wishing to reclaim authenticity and tenderness for those who have been marginalized from our system.
Flying Carpet, Oil Painting, 50x70 cm, 2023 © Antonia-Maria Platzer
INTERVIEW
First of all, introduce yourself to our readers. How would you describe yourself and your work?
Hello, my name is Toni; I am 26 years old and am a multi-disciplinary creator based in Berlin.
My work is very experimental, as I see myself as much of a scientist as well as an artist creating pieces. It is an accumulation of my experiences grounded with research that has, until now, reached various topics, specifically within the realm of spirituality, philosophy, psychology, activism, and many more- piecing together a cosmos of its own.
I have been using my work as a tool to break free from structures that have not served me well as an individual/ I find it hard to integrate into them. My work is my personal catalyst for proactive change, continuously breaking itself apart and reconfiguring something new out of an urge to be myself radically. Opening up space for anyone to do the same.
Why are you an artist, and when did you first become one?
I feel that I have always been the way I am now- a bit older, but still, a kid exploring the many ways of creating reality and how this is communicated back to us in the colors, imageries, shapes, etc. has always been fascinating to me.
Remaining on the path of art somehow has been a strong inner drive that is one of the few things in my life that has persisted. Maybe because I have felt early on that art has this aspect of revolution - people who are artists in my head were always beings who rebelled against the soul-depriving reality they lived in, often marginalized, but in any case, fighting for the things they love, and taking the sacrifices needed to do so.
So basically, I have felt artists can be like real-life punk ‘politicians’ - changing up the paradigm without needing to be sitting ‘above’ the people and ruling but more so being on the outskirts of society and slowly overthrowing old structures through a non-violent approach of resistance. I choose to make art because, to me, it is a gate for healing, validation, and transformation of the self as well as for our collective.
Home Manifestation, Oil on Canvas, 50x70 cm, 2023 © Antonia-Maria Platzer
Untitled, Oil Painting, 120x80 cm, 2023 © Antonia-Maria Platzer
You have an interesting background with several different experiences. How do these affect your current work as an artist?
Very much- I am in constant exchange with my environment and react to it as well in my practice.
I have had the privilege to live in very diverse communities, as I left my home when I was 16. Going to the very South, Eswatini, then all the way to the West to Los Angeles, and now arriving back in Berlin has been a long way.
This has allowed me to create from a huge ray of background/ experiences; being out of home at a young age and navigating the spaces I have been in has given me first-hand insight into a lot of beauty as well as social issues, charging my practice even more.
Can you tell us about the process of creating your work? Do you have any routine or set of actions that help you get in the right zone to create?
For me, the way I get in the right zone is with a pair of music speakers and having a space in which I can be free. I don’t need much other than that to create.
Entering the Purple Home, Oil Painting, 50x70 cm, 2023 © Antonia-Maria Platzer
You have a peculiar style and use first-hand experiences and symbols to create your pieces. How do you choose them, and what do they represent for you?
First of all, thank you for finding peculiarity within my work. That’s a big compliment to me. The way I choose has changed over time- I feel in earlier works, I usually reflected a very raw, instantaneous reaction to the emotions I was going through at that specific moment, working very much ‘in the flow.’ While now, it has become a bit more planned, structuring the image I try to create in a more intentional way as this allows me to experiment with various painting processes and expand on my techniques. Spiritual/Alchemical symbolism are elements I incorporate in my work often, thus simultaneously creating a map of these inner worlds and a riddle to solve for whoever is interested in walking on the path depicted in the paintings.
How did you develop your style? And what is one essential element you always incorporate in your work?
Music has been one of the main influences on how I developed my style- punk rock, the avant-garde, hip hop, as well as folk music. Various underground music/art scenes, such as the rave scene in Berlin and LA, have impacted my style to a great extent, which is also where most of my community has been.
In the last few years, I created a lot of work inspired by various tales and depictions of deities, of which a lot of them are about female or androgynous, warrior-esque divinities intertwined with my personal storytelling.
The thematics in a lot of them depict humanoid beings that slowly transitioned from a black/white, chaotic environment into a colorful, magical space of tranquility and safeness. A healing transformation is one of the core objectives of my practice.
The element of play is something that I feel is very strong in my work, not confining myself into specific categories and letting the creations choose for themselves somehow. I see myself as the vessel through which they can find a voice in the material.
The Owl and the Dragon, Oil Painting, 150x80 cm, 2023 © Antonia-Maria Platzer
Trinity, Digital Painting, 2022 © Antonia-Maria Platzer
You work with painting, sewing, and AI. Is there anything else you would like to experiment with?
Yes, absolutely. During my studies, I experimented with various media and installations that incorporated painting, drawing, sculpture, video, sound, and performance. As I felt I needed to eventually choose, I boiled it down to the ones mentioned above.
Besides this, I love to initiate/ take part in community art of any kind. That, in any case, is something that I have found to be a privilege that arises from time to time.
What do you think of AI-generated art? And what about Crypto art and NFTs?
I find the possibilities we have as artists to use AI as a tool to create potentially even more innovative pieces mind-blowing.
For me, AI art does not compete with the human artist as its essence is very different - the purpose of art to me is mostly to mirror the human condition, not to render an idea perfectly. To me, AI, therefore, creates an extension of our ability to make art, speeding up the processes as well as opening up doors for new ideas. Crypto and NFT art have been and still are intriguing to me, but I am not involved with it.
Underworld, Digital Painting, 2022 © Antonia-Maria Platzer
Are you currently working on any new project or series? Is there anything new you can share with our readers?
Yes, I am very happy to continue on a concept I just started with. I got inspired by books I read when I was a child, in which one could choose the continuation of the plot by being given different options at the end of each chapter.
This was an idea to bring to the painting realm, where I am combining a set of paintings in which each of them will be guiding the viewer on a path where one can choose which gate to ‘walk through' to then arrive at another reality/painting depending on the choice taken.
The effect of this shall put the viewer into a first-person perspective and eventually go deeper inside of the painting, expressing the concept of us as individuals holding power to co-create our realities and projecting our choices into a visual making.
Finally, are there any projects you are looking forward to for this year?
There are definitely fabulous collaborations happening that I am excited about, as well as hoping for new ones to arise in the next few months.
One of my friends and I are going to release some musical tracks we created pre-Covid during our studies at CalArts, that now have been mixed into a new version as muff x toni. Also, I am in touch with local artists/queer businesses to create some art pieces for their events as well as continuously working on softshell hardcore, my main project at the moment.
Artist’s Talk
Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.
