Mario Pfeifer (born 1981 in Dresden, Germany) studied at visual art academies in Leipzig and Berlin before graduating from Städelschule Frankfurt am Main in 2008. Pfeifer was a Fulbright fellow at the California Institute of the Arts from 2008–09. His works explore representational structures and conventions in the medium of film, in locations ranging from California to the Western Sahara. Conceiving each project out of a specific cultural situation, he researches social-political backgrounds and weaves further cross-cultural, art historical, filmic and political references into a richly layered practice, ranging from film and video installations to photographs and text installations. A first monograph was published by Sternberg Press in 2011 followed by publications with Fotohof edition / KOW and Spector Books in 2013. Pfeifer’s works have been exhibited at MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Cultural Centre, Brugge; KW – Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; Frankfurter Kunstverein; Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden and Circa Projects, Sunderland, UK. His films screened at Anthology Film Archives, New York, REDCAT, Los Angeles; Moca Detroit; Museum Ludwig Cologne and at film festivals in Bangkok, London, Madrid, Paris and Toronto.