MAALEX WHO?
MAalex (*2019) is an artistic and
curatorial duo founded by
Martina Pizzigoni and Alex Fallica.
Their practice investigates contemporaneity through its social and anthropological nuances
with a focus on relationships, engagement, and interactivity, often mediated by digital technologies.
Navigating across media and formats, they select the most effective
tools to serve their communicative aims. Rejecting purely aesthetic frameworks,
MAalex employs art to unsettle, provoke, and challenge dominant narratives, favouring politically and socially engaged practices.
Their works range from immersive installations to participatory experiences and site-specific interventions, inviting audiences to step outside their comfort zones and confront the urgencies of our time.
Current research explores digital cultures, focusing on the transformation of identity from physical to virtual spaces and the impermanence of human interactions, which are increasingly captured and commodified as data.
Based in Linz, Austria, since 2022 and active internationally,
MAalex develops its research within the Interface Cultures program
at Kunstuniversität Linz, supported by Energie AG, OÖ Landes-Kultur
and other institutional partners.
c_Google Maps (March '23)
EXHIBTIONS
2026
LINZFMR, Festival of art in digital contexts and public spaces, Linz (AT).
2025
DA FEST 10, International digital art festival, Sofia (BG).
Talentiert & Etabliert, curated by Maria Venzl & Reinhard Gattinger, Energie AG PowerTower, Linz (AT).
Pop Chaos, Laval Virtual - Recto VRso, curated by Judith Guez, Le Quarante, Laval (FR).
2024
DE__CLOUD, WIP Festival, Campus, Nicosia (CY).
NOUS, Ars Electronica Festival, Interface Cultures, Linz (AT).
7BELLO, curated by DFTM¹, Florence (IT).
Datamorphosis - Elektron Festival, curated by Françoise Poos & Vincent Crapon
Bridderhaus, Esch-sur-Alzette (LUX).
Real Time / Virtual Time, Recto VRso at laval virtual,
curated by Judith Guez & Julien Lomet, Le Quarante, Laval (FR).
2023
Pixxelpoint Festival, TIR Gallery, curated by Nina Jeza & Barbara Jazbec, Nova Gorica (SLO).
Speculum Artium Festival, Zavod za kulturo Delavski, Trbovlje (SLO).
Resonating Selves, Ars Electronica Festival, Interface Cultures, Linz (AT).
Apophenia, Kunsthalle Linz, Interface Cultures, Linz (AT).
Grants & Awards
2024
Ars Electronica Campus Awards - Honorary Mention for (V)ns.
Traumstipendium, Energie AG & OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH, Travel and production grant.
Förderungsstipendium, Kunstuniversität Linz (AT).
Projektförderung ÖH, Kunstuniversität Linz (AT).
2023
Förderungsstipendium, Kunstuniversität Linz (AT).
Residencies & Special Projects
2026
AMRO26: Becoming Unreadble. Organization and production (Linz, AT).
GUEST LECTURE - Multimedia Design Department
Scuola di Cinema Luchino Visconti, Milan (IT).
2025
TNB, Guided tour: When the Self Can’t Die
Presented by maalex and Manuela Naveau
part of the program of Ars Electronica Festival '25
Energie AG PowerTower, Linz (AT).
Project Presentation showcase at the University of Tsukuba
(Media Art course by YOICHI Ochiai, Digital Nature Group)
TSUKUBA, Ibaraki (JP).
GUEST LECTURE - Multimedia Design Department
''Digital identity, memory, and the afterlife in MAalex’s practice''
Scuola di Cinema Luchino Visconti, Milan (IT).
Artistic residency at Domus In_Residence
exploring the link between local traditions and ancestral mourning
Rituals of the Grecìa Salentina.
MAalex also hosted a workshop on generative AI, ritual, and grief
in the digital age Domus Artistic Residency, Galatina, Lecce (IT).
2024
Editorial publication Death Design Data, (Onomatopee 254)
edited by Cecilia Casabona & Ginevra Petrozzi, featuring I✝OFB
Public presentation at Parco Studio Gallery, Milan (May 2025).
Stay at CASA NETURAL & Presentation at Casa Netural Talks.
Participation in Co.So! Artisti per il Sociale 2024, an initiative by ETRARTE, Casa Netural, Gorizia (IT).
Research residency FOR the exhibition Datamorphosis at Elektron Festival
& Research poster presentation at the University of Luxembourg
Bridderhaus, Esch-sur-Alzette (LUX).
CROSS-SECTIONS. SEDIMENTS OF A NEAR PAST
Exhibition curated by Behiye Erdemir & Martina Pizzigoni
part of the Media Archaeology course led by Gebhard Sengmüller
Galerie WHA, Kunstuniversität Linz (AT).
2023
Hyper*Espresso, The Wrong Biennale 2023/2024
Project management, production, and curatorship of the online digital pavilion.
Official presentation supported by The Wrong Biennale, Kunstuni Linz and interface cultures, Kunstuniversität Linz (AT).
APOPHENIA, Collaborative installation and online environment
Kunsthalle Linz (AT) – June to September.
PUBLICATIONS
2026
Les Nouveaux Riches, "AMRO: Becoming Unreadable", Interview by Kristina Deska Nikolić
(Davide Bevilacqua, Martina Pizzigoni).
CLOT Magazine, "Becoming Unreadable’ fosters aesthetics & cultural practices of resistance against computational depletion & totalising AI" (Davide Bevilacqua, Martina Pizzigoni).
2025
OÖ Nachrichten “Die Schau “Talentiert & Etabliert zeigt preisgekrönte Kunst in Linz”.
2024
Onomatopee 254: "Death-Desing-Data" edited by Cecilia Casabona, Ginevra Petrozzi.
Welt der Frauen, Interview by Sophia Lang.
"Feminist AI at Interface Cultures Linz", Paper presentation Netzwerk.
Frauen - und Geschlechterforschung NRW, Essen, Manuela Naveau, Alexander Wöran.
MOST Magazine,"The Digital as Material and Social Form. On Cyber Structures: Material Realities–Digital Experiences", review by Joachim Aagaard Friis.
WGI.World, "The Crossroads of Art and Global Politics: Cyber Structures, Material Realities, and Digital Experiences, the Projects of Elektron, Luxembourg" (review by Maja Ćirić).
CLOT Magazine, "OpEd: Resonating Selves & Quantified Perspectives" (Manuela Naveau).
Bela Blog teaching spotlight "Sound and Textiles: Interface Cultures Masters at University of Arts Linz", edited by Malte Bergmann and Friederike Fröbel.
2023
CLOT Magazine, "Insight: Hyper*Espresso, exploring the connection between art, Italian culture & the online experience at The Wrong Biennale 2023" (Alessia Fallica, Martina Pizzigoni).
MAalex® prototypes frictions, not solutions. Side effects may include identity dissolution, critical thinking, and recursive grief.
STATEMENT
MAALEX
ARTIST & CURATORIAL DUO
AUSTRIA / ITALY