The visual artist and musician Raphael Sbrzesny develops installations in which wearable sculptures are activated as musical instruments in performances and combined with costumes, texts, videos and photography. In his artistic practice, he is interested in the body as an instrument and setting for a subjective historiography. Central to his work is the idea of the emancipated interpreter, who structures his own works using figures such as the Eumel, King, Son, Doctor, Sophie or Principal Boy and performs them anew time and again.

Raphael Sbrzesny (born 1985 in Oberndorf a. N.; lives and works in Berlin) studied fine arts, sculpture, contemporary music, classical percussion, chamber music, experimental music theater and theory in Stuttgart, Munich, Bern, and Paris. From 2018 to 2023, he was Professor for Rethinking Interpretation in Sound, Performance, and Conceptual Artistic Practice at the University of the Arts Bremen.

The publication Was vom zweiten Körper übrig blieb (published 2024 with Verlag Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, Köln), shows selected works by Sbrzesny from 2011 to 2024, which were shown in the following institutions, among others: Haus der Kunst Munich, Haus am Waldsee Berlin, Zentrum für Kunst und Medien Karlsruhe, Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg, PIK – Projektraum im Kunstwerk Köln, Forum Kunst – Kunstverein der Stadt Rottweil, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Akademie Schloss Solitude, ECLAT Festival Neue Musik Stuttgart, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Festspielhaus Hellerau Dresden, Kunsthalle Göppingen, Museumsquartier Osnabrück and Kunsthalle Düsseldorf.

Distanz Berlin published 2024: Interpret*innenkammer—Polyphonic Workshop. Sound, Performance & Concept, 50 BOOKLETS ON INTERDISCIPLINARY TEACHING BETWEEN ART, DESIGN, DIGITAL MEDIA, AND MUSIC, edited by Raphael Sbrzesny.
This publication is designed as an open archive documenting a collection of fifty booklets related to various interdisciplinary teaching projects revolving around the Professorship for Rethinking Interpretation in Sound, Performance, and Conceptual Artistic Practice at the University of the Arts Bremen (Hochschule für Künste Bremen). Almost all the projects were developed in collaboration with different teachers and guests.