Sophia Leitenmayer’s artistic practice operates at the intersections of sound, performance, object, and video, and is strongly influenced by collective and interdisciplinary working methods. Her work focuses on extreme sonic experiences, prostheses, non-functioning bodies, and questions of repair, transformation, and the conditions of different forms of life.
In her work, she explores how technical, social, and ecological systems are interwoven and how sound can serve as a medium to make these relationships tangible. Currently, she is focusing, among other things, on the so-called “cemetery orbit”—the growing ring of discarded satellites and space debris—which she conceives as a speculative resonant space between technology, memory and the future.
In addition to her artistic practice, Leitenmayer collaborates as a curator with Hyper Cultural Passengers in Hamburg as part of the Portjourneys network. Collaboration with artists from various disciplines, as well as the exchange between local and international perspectives, form an essential part of her practice.
From 2016 to 2024, she studied with Michaela Melián and Kader Attia at the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree. She also joined the programs "New Compositional Techiques" at Academy of Music and Drama Hamburg and "Critical Studies" at Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.
Her works have been exhibited internationally, including in Vienna, Yokohama, and Berlin, and have received film awards.
exhibitions (selection)
2026 »Mitklang«, Chiara Vista, Kunstraum Tosterglope
2026 »Paris Ass Book Fair«, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR
2026 »Entransito«, ferry terminal St.Antoni, Ibiza, ES
2026 solo show »Raummoden«, Galerie Oel-früh, Hamburg
2026 »PFSL#2«, Kunstpunt, Groningen, NL
2025 »Passages«, HyCP, Hamburg
2025 »Fluxbus: Homophonie/Polyphonie«, Westwerk Hamburg & (((NYT))) Berlin
2025 »In Uscita« @Spazio Love, Lugano, CH
2025 »Exorbitant« @Bibliothek Andreas Züst, Alpenhof, CH
2025 »GMS« @Baumwollspinnerei, Halle 12, Leipzig
2025 »foley function / passing by sound between« @hinterconti, Blurred Edges Festival, Hamburg
2025 »Sonic Relations« @Hypercultural Passengers, 48h Wilhelmsburg, Hamburg
2025 »3yy+hundert« @Kunstverein Neuhausen
2025 »Garten« @Galerie Gruppe Motto, Hamburg
2025 »süße punkte auf montage«, Golden Pudel Club, Hamburg
2025 »Duhovi Upora«, HyCP, Hamburg
2025 »art off«, Barlachhalle K, Hamburg
2024 »ex libris« art book fair at extended library, HFBK Hamburg
2024 »table of contents«, hinterconti, Hamburg
2024 »Under The Skin«, Galerie Jena Kulturbahnhof, DE
2024 »hundert зуу« ,Red Ger Gallery, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
2024 solo show »Three River Pieces«, Ono Point, Yokohama, JP
2024 »7 Seeds«, Yokohama Triennale, Zou-No-Hana Terrace, Yokohama, JP
2023 »Ein Sturm verschwindender Wörter«, with Cristina Rüesch, NYT, Berlin, DE
2023 »Floating Transmissions«, MS Stubnitz, Hamburg, DE
2023 »Tapete unter Algenteppich«, Schute, Hamburg, DE
2023 »Mean Sea Level«, HYCP, Hamburg, DE
2023 »Erinnern – Sonic Narratives«, HYCP, Hamburg, DE
2023 solo show »Papierfischchen«, Galerie Genscher, Hamburg, DE
2023 »ENERGIE:ENERGEIA«, Delphi Space, Freiburg, DE
2023 »Time Based Art is Magic«, Studio Peragine Hamburg, DE
2022 »No Escape Room«, MS Stubnitz Hamburg, DE
2022 Independent Space Index / »BIP«, Neuer Kunstverein Wien, Vienna, AT
2022 »Heide«, Kunstverein Springhornhof, DE
2022 »Rapid Rabbit Reloaded«, Frappant Galerie, Hamburg, DE
2022 »Close Up Hamburger Film- und Kinogeschichten«, Altonaer Museum, Hamburg, DE
2022 »From Hamburg with Love«, Avalon Café, London, GB
2022 »Helft meinem Vogel aus der Patsche«, Orbit, Hamburg, DE
2021 »Moderne Kommunikationsmittel verleihen Macht.«, FMP1 Berlin, DE
2021 solo show »Kinderbrille«, Galerie für Gegenwartskunst, EWERK Freiburg, DE
2021 »So Close / So Far #03«, HYCP, Hamburg, DE
2020 »nocturne«, Kunsthaus L6, Freiburg, DE
2020 »slow analogue sky surve«, Galerie LaDøns Hamburg, DE
2020 »If you water water it grows«, HFBK Galerie, Hamburg, DE
2019 »Magische Dystopie«, MOM Art Space, Hamburg, DE
2017 »The Worst Case«, Bunkerhill Galerie, Hamburg, DE
publications, cataloques & press (selection)
2025 Exorbitant
2024/2026 Index f
2023 »ENERGIE:ENERGEIA«, Delphi Space, Freiburg
2023 »Mean Sea Level«, HYCP, Hamburg
2023 »Die Kunst von der Kunst zu leben«, BPW, Equal Pay Day
2023 »Whisper Whisper«, KubaParis
2022 »Independence and Self-Organization«, artist talk
2022 »Counter-Monuments and Para-Monuments. Contested Memory in Public Space«, symposium
2021 »So Close / So Far« #3
2021 »So Close / So Far« #1
2021 »step by step city walks«, seminar and walks
2020 »Walk by the open we«, online conference
performances
2026 »Sonic Bodies - Dispari«, Phototriennale Hamburg
2026 »The Wall« with Inga Stenøien, Invisible at HFMT Hamburg
2025 fngr fuia performance @Gängeviertel Druckerei Hamburg 24.01. / @ Einbaumöbel, Vienna, AT 21.03. / @Vinzenz Space, Vienna, AT 22.03. / »süße punkte auf montage« @ Golden Pudel Club 05.05./ 05.06. »Garten« @Gruppe Motto, Hamburg / 18.06. @Hörbar, 19.06.25 @hinterconti, Blurred Edges, Hamburg / 02.10. »Panorama« @Kunsthaus Hamburg / 10.-12.10. »Fluxbus: Homophonie/Polyphonie«, Westwerk Hamburg & (((NYT))) Berlin
2024 sound performance »fngr fuia«: 11./12./13./14.07. at HfBK 10.08. at Curious Lab Hamburg; 07.09. at Zus Fest Hamburg; 22.11. »Cochlear Amplifier« at Werkhaus Hamburg 2024 »Fight Flight Fawn Freeze« with Jori Kehn
2023 »Seefrauenparade«
2023 »Klassentreffen«, HFBK, Hamburg, DE
2022 »Para-City-Walk Monument against Fascism«
collaborations and contributions
sound performance »Ancestral« with Carlos León Zambrano at ((NYT)) sound art space, Berlin
cooking performance »Politics Of Love« by Hiwa K. with Alima at HYCP in collaboration with Kunsthaus Hamburg
Upstream #7: SURGE sound performance »Milky Sequencer« with Louise Vind Nielsen at MS Stubnitz, Hamburg
»aufheben« by Michaela Melián, Hans Otte. Klanghaus, Weserburg, Bremen, DE
»na escada« by Dörte Habighorst, Elena Friedrich, Hinterconti, Hamburg, DE
archive movies for show »timebased media is magic« by Ute Janssen, Studio Peragine, Hamburg, DE
»climates of relating« by Paulina Laskowski
curated shows
Ausleuchten
Seven Seeds - communication under trees - Yokohama
Veddel Art Weeks 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
Veddel Art Walk
So Close / So Far #1 - Video Screening into the summer night
2017 “Too Early Works”, Elektrohaus, Hamburg, DE
workshops
Veddel Art Camp 1 - 2 - 3
Chasing Clouds
Telling is learning
Silent / Тиха / SESSIZ / Тихая – Raum zum Zeichnen
[f]ocal point, video workshop at Leh, Ladakh, India