Freda Fiala

Freda Fiala is a postdoctoral researcher working as a University Assistant at the Institute of Fine Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Arts Linz. She is currently a key member of the ERC Consolidator Project OLFAC ("Olfactormativity: Exploring The Intervening Performativity Of Smell") led by Prof. Dr. Silke Felber, where she contributes her expertise in performance studies and East Asian cultural analysis.

Her academic background combines theater, film, and media studies with East Asian studies (Sinology), shaped by extensive study periods in Vienna, Berlin, Hong Kong, and Taipei. Fiala completed her doctorate funded by a DOC scholarship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (2020-2023), focusing on contemporary performance in Taiwan and its regional networks and cultural policy implications. Her dissertation, "Curating Communities, Staging Liveness: Contemporary Performance in Taiwan's Quest for Identity," is set to be published in 2025 as the first English-language monograph on the role of contemporary performance in Taiwan's informal cultural diplomacy.

Freda Fiala's research critically examines questions of decentralization and centralization across macro- and microhistorical contexts, with particular attention to how cultural infrastructure influences artistic and institutional processes. Her work spans performance theories and aesthetics, East Asian cultural studies, transmodern artistic networks, art and cultural diplomacy, and infrastructural criticism, with a focus on relationships between Central Europe and East Asia.

Her scholarly publications reveal a trajectory exploring digital performance, blockchain applications in art, institutional histories of performing arts centers, and transnational artistic networks. Fiala has received significant recognition including the 2025 Young Scholar Award from the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS) for her outstanding research contributions.

• 2025 Young Scholar Award of the European Association of Taiwan Studies (EATS)
• Guest lecturer at Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and University of Vienna
• Theory mentor at PARTS School for Contemporary Dance in Brussels
• Curator of "The Non-fungible Body" and "HYBRID BODIES" at OK Linz
• Organizer of symposia including "Performance Besides Itself" and "Curatorial Tipping Points"

Fiala has established meaningful international connections through projects like the first museum-supported residency program between Taiwan and Austria, connecting the Yingge Ceramics Museum in New Taipei City with the Academy of Ceramics Gmunden. Her work demonstrates a commitment to fostering cross-cultural dialogue and examining how cultural institutions narrate histories, shape publics, and negotiate cultural politics in an increasingly interconnected world.