Ana Hoffner was born in Yugoslavia in 1980 and migrated to Austria in 1989. She received Austrian citizenship in 2002 and changed her name to Hoffner (previous Prvulović), a short version of German 'Hoffnung', which means hope. Hoffner is an artist and art historian, her research interests include temporality in contemporary art, queer history, psychoanalysis and affect theory, antisemitism and migration in visual cultural studies, politics of memory and war and critical theory.
Hoffner studied Education in the Arts between 1999 and 2002, and Fine Art and Cultural Studies between 2002 and 2007 at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. She finished the PhD in Practice program in 2014 with the arts-based research project "The Queerness of Memory", which was published by b_books in 2018. The book explores the politics of trauma and post '89 memory through the lens of queerness in a series of art works and texts by the author. As DOC fellow of the Austrian Academy of Sciences between 2017 and 2020 Hoffner earned a Doctor of Philosophy, Dr.phil., with the art theoretical project "Desynchronizing the Contemporary" in the art practice of Claude Cahun, Zanele Muholi, Anna Daucikova, Sharon Hayes, Glenn Ligon and Chantal Akerman. Since 2011 Hoffner has taught arts-based research practice and art theory at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, University Innsbruck, University Mozarteum Salzburg, University of Art Braunschweig, ZHdK Zürich and a.pass (Advanced Performance and Scenography Studies) Brussels. In 2019 she was Visiting Scholar at The New School, New York City. Since 2020 she is Professor for Artistic Research at the University Mozarteum Salzburg where she co-developed the PhD in the Arts, a transdisciplinary doctoral program for artists. In 2022 Hoffner curated the exhibition "Whiteness as Property" at Künstlerhaus Vienna accompanied by a conference of contributing artists, exploring aesthetic practices developed in relation to property and possession.
Hoffner has published in Texte zur Kunst, springerin, Camera Austria International, e-flux journal, FKW. Zeitschrift für Geschlechterforschung und visuelle Kultur, transversal journal, The Large Glass. Journal of Contemporary Art, Culture and Theory, Analyze. Journal of Gender and Feminist Studies, Bildpunkt. Zeitschrift der IG Bildende Kunst, Theater der Zeit, an.schläge. Das feministische Magazin. etc. In 2023 her catalogue "Contemporary Unconscious" was published by Sternberg Press Berlin. The publication documents and translates the arts-based research projects Freud Film, Non-aligned relatives, The Bacha Posh Project, Private View and Active Intolerance into book format.
Recent solo exhibitions include Kunstverein Braunschweig, Kunsthalle Vienna, Museum of Contemporary Art Podgorica. Group exhibitions include Biennale Jogja, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, City of Women Ljubljana, Taxispalais Innsbruck, The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Koroška (KGLU), Austrian Cultural Forum Warsaw, Framer Framed Amsterdam, Kunstraum Kreuzberg Bethanien Berlin, Kunstraum Innsbruck, tranzit.sk Bratislava, Museum of Contemporary Art Banja Luka, Freud Museum Vienna, VOX centre de l’image contemporaine Montreal, Bosnian National Gallery Sarajevo, LACE Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Künstlerhaus Graz (steirischer herbst), Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig, Secession Vienna, Salzburger Kunstverein. Screenings include mumok cinema Vienna, Sinema Transtopia Berlin, Blicke Kino/Belvedere 21er Haus Vienna, Videoex Festival Zurich, Sinop International Biennial “Sinopale 4”, Brussels Women's Film Festival, Internationales FrauenFilmFestival Köln, Feminist and Lesbian Film Festival Paris etc.