Hallauer was born in 1996 in Basel and grew up in the rural Northwestern Switzerland. From 2013 to 2014, he completed the preparatory course at the Schule für Gestaltung Basel.[1] In 2014, Hallauer was arrested by the police during an art action at Art Basel on the Messeplatz.[2] The incident attracted attention in the international art world and made headlines.[3]
After completing the preparatory course, Hallauer acted as an actor at the Theater Basel.[4] In 2015, Hallauer made headlines with an art action in which he appeared naked and painted white for the mandatory conscription of the Swiss Army.[5] From 2015 to 2019, Hallauer completed the Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Zurich University of the Arts[6] and in 2018 in the Jankowski class[7] of the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart. In 2019, Hallauer made headlines again during the Sofia Art Week in Bulgaria with a public art action that went viral. In this art action, he appeared naked on monuments, including the famous lion statues in front of the Palace of Justice in Sofia.[8]
Severin Hallauer received the 2021 Award for Visual Arts from the Canton of Solothurn.[9] Also in 2021, Hallauer emigrated to Mexico, where he has since lived and worked in Mexico City alongside his second residence in Zurich.[10]
Hallauer expresses himself in compelling performances and works in various media on philosophical and socio-political issues.[9] His oeuvre includes performance, installation, video, sculpture, painting, and photography.
Severin Hallauer's work polarizes and receives both recognition[16] and critical feedback. Some critics praise his work as a bold and profound engagement with social and philosophical issues.[9] Others see his actions as excessive self-promotion aimed at scandals. In 2024, Hallauer responded to this criticism in an interview, saying, "Scandal plays no role in my work. I don't sit in my studio imagining how I can provoke my fellow humans. It's an uncompromising honesty that I demand from my art. […] If viewers feel provoked by my art, it says more about them than about me and my art."[17]
