Phillip Staffa is an interdisciplinary visual artist and musician who trained in wood and stone sculpting, graduated from the Conservatory of Music Würzburg, and currently lives and works in Berlin. He is an artist who always raises a question about the cultural value of everyday symbols, the mechanics of consumption, and the oscillation between pop object and contemporary totem, based on sculpture, painting, and site-specific sound installations.

His latest practice, “Objects of Desire,” is a material investigation of familiar, everyday items that become newly present through shifts in scale and context. From his recent methodology—translating wrapped sweets into oversized objects of temptation, burning and sealing an artist self-help book to make it inaccessible, and inflating a discarded cigarette butt into a monumental remnant of consumption—the artist tries to bring emotionally charged, culturally shared archetypes back to our reality. The instant recognition of the motif is continuously confronted with themes of desire, beauty, failure, and ambiguity. He describes his work as an approach rooted in accessibility, directness, and joy, inviting viewers into an embodied and playful form of perception. Also active as a founding member of the MONAS Collective exploring ecological themes, his practice is rooted in a dynamic crossover of media, merging meticulous spatial craftsmanship within the form of engaging, participatory installations.

Staffa’s career is marked by a diverse range of fellowships, including a visual arts research grant from the City of Berlin and the Cultural Prize of the City of Würzburg. He has been invited to exhibit at major international venues and institutions, including NordArt at Carlshütte, PACT Zollverein in Essen, Galerie Bernau, Weserhalle in Berlin, and the German Pavilion at EXPO 2025 in Osaka.

Education & Training

Since 2013

Freelance visual artist and musician, Berlin, Germany

2012, 2014

Masterclasses with Wolfgang Holz, France

2008–2013

Studies in Music, Conservatory of Music Würzburg, Germany

2000–2010

Apprenticeship in wood and stone sculpting with Bernd Zimmer, Stuttgart, Germany

Exhibition & Projects (Selection)

2026

NordArt, Carlshütte

Stroke Art Fair, Munich

HUSH HUSH, RETRAMP Gallery, Berlin

2025

Moor Rhapsody, Sound installation at the German Pavilion, EXPO Osaka, Japan (With MONAS Collective)

Weserhalle, Group exhibition, Berlin, Germany

Work Entanglements, Inter Arts Center, Malmö, Sweden

Galerie Schwarz, Greifswald, Germany

Studio Unbekannt, Berlin, Germany

Galerie Neukölln, Berlin, Germany

2024

HANDWERK, Galerie Bernau, Germany (Solo exhibition)

EIN:FLUSS:RAUM:MOOR, multimedia installation, Caspar David Friedrich Anniversary, Greifswald, Germany (With MONAS Collective)

2023

One movement at a Time, ilali Studio, Berlin, Germany (Solo exhibition)

COLLECTIVENESS IN SPACE, Adlerhalle, Berlin, Germany

COMMON:GROUND, ilali studio, Berlin, Germany

IM/MOBILE STATE (PACT Atelier No 66), Zeche Zollverein, Essen, Germany