Erica Schreiner is an American experimental filmmaker, video artist, and performance artist.
Biography Schreiner was born in 1983 in Oregon. She earned a BS in graphic design from the Art Institute of Portland, and she was subsequently awarded a full scholarship to The School of Visual Arts Lens and Screen Arts Residency Program. She studied under Marina Abramović in 2012 for the MoMA PS1 program Summer School 2012, which also included Steve Paxton and Genesis Breyer P-Orridge. She cites among her influences Maya Deren, Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, surrealism, Riot Grrrl, and Czech New Wave.
Career Schreiner's first short Paper Dress appeared in late 2005, with Schreiner portraying the character of Skye. This soon led to a series The Skye Project in collaboration with director Christopher Tenzis. The films premiered on MySpace, and a total of 23 shorts were completed by 2008, augmented with a website that included blog entries that invited audience feedback and live performances.
Following The Skye Project, Schreiner continued to make short films, including the five-part Disorders Series in 2011 in which she personifies specific mental illnesses. Her 2023 short Love Is Power was acquired by MoMA in 2025 and screened along with her short film Birth (2022) as part of the series Queer And Uncensored, the film portion which she guest curated along with filmmaker MM Serra.
Her debut feature-length film Satori was released in 2015, with her second feature The Special People, which featured a performance from Matthew Silver, following in 2021.
Her films have been screened at The Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1, the Hugh Lane Gallery, the Bill Hodges Gallery, and Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio, among others.
She has also directed music videos for Toby Goodshank, Portland duo Soft Metals, Vyy, Zac Pennington of Parenthetical Girls’ project Popular Music, The Grasping Straws, The Johns, and others.
Schreiner will begin shooting an upcoming feature in August 2026 called The Art Commune, co-directed with Brewce Longo.
Schreiner is on the Programming Committee for the Millennium Film Workshop and currently sits on the Board Of Advisors for the The Film-Makers' Cooperative.
Artistry "Schreiner’s work looks and feels like no one else’s; you always know when you are watching an Erica Schreiner video, and in this sense she is the definition of a true auteur." - Matt McKinzie, The Film-Makers' Cooperative
SHOWstudio calls Schreiner "a Millenial Maya Deren" and describes her feature Satori as "mus[ing] on the commodification of art, the need for financial survival and the value of personal belongings." Of her work, Schreiner says she "invent[s] worlds that are ethereal, sensual and ritualistic" while "urg[ing] the viewer to consider alternate realities from the current cultural paradigm and to locate peace within a technologically inundated and capitalistic/patriarchal culture." She films on VHS as her primary medium. Schreiner cites among her influences Maya Deren, Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, surrealism, Riot Grrrl, and Czech New Wave.
Solo exhibitions
2011
Dessert & Disorders | The Disorders Series (2011), Bill Hodges Gallery, Manhattan, New York
2015
MOONSEED, Eckhaus Gallery, Kutztown, PA
2023
Erica Schreiner: Feminine Transgressions, Bill Hodges Gallery, Manhattan, New York
2024
God is Woman, New Gallery, Brooklyn, New York Sensory Archive, Xposed on the Highline, Manhattan High Line, Manhattan, New York 2025
A Girl In Her Own World, co-curated with Matt McKinzie, The Film-Makers' Cooperative, Manhattan, New York
2026
Of Living Deliciously, Lola Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Selected group exhibitions
2008
NW Film and Video Festival, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
2010
Un-Interrupted, exhibition with Sol Kjøk, Bill Hodges Gallery, Manhattan, New York ArcheTime Film Festival, The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Manhattan, New York
2012
Performance and exhibition with Marina Abramović, MoMA PS1, Queens, New York Fashion/Fetish, SHOWstudio, London, England, United Kingdom
2020
ULTRAcinema Film Festival, Mexico City, Mexico Essex DocFest, Essex, England, United Kingdom, Official Selection: Quarantine Films Berlin Underground Film Festival, Berlin, Germany, Nomination: Best Performance Art Film Bump’n’Grind Film Festival, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Award: Best Performance in an Art Film
2021
The Film and Video Poetry Society, Pasadena, CA, Official Selection: The 2021 Film and Video Poetry Symposium G Independent Film Festival, Melbourne, Australia
2022
Experimental Film & Video, CICA Museum, Gimpo, South Korea
2023
International Experimental Film and Video Festival, Bideodromo, Bilbao, Spain I’ll Be Your Mirror, Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
2025
Queer + Uncensored, Museum of Modern Art, Manhattan, New York Bogota Experimental Film Festival, CineAutopsia, Bogotá, Colombia Hungarian Experimental Film Festival, Kaleideszkop Haz, Esztergom, Hungary EMAMI Art Experimental Film Festival, Kolkata, India, Official Selection: International 2026
Long Live the Underground!, Museum of Modern Art, Manhattan, New York Chicago Underground Film Festival, Gene Siskel Film Center and Harper Theater, Chicago, Illinois PerSo Perugia Social Film Festival, Perugia, Italy FENDA Experimental Festival, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Filmography
Films +YearTitleNotes2015Satori2021The Special PeopleTBAThe Art CommuneIn production; co-director Brewce Longo
Short films +YearTitleNotes2005Paper DressThe Skye Project2006Chocolate BunnyThe Skye Project2006SickThe Skye Project2006Genetically AlteredThe Skye Project2006SongThe Skye Project2006HomeThe Skye Project2006New FriendThe Skye Project2006CakeThe Skye Project2006BirthdayThe Skye Project2007The Light Game2007Stencil2007Strawberry Milk2007MathThe Skye Project2007House SittingThe Skye Project2007PerformanceThe Skye Project2007GiftThe Skye Project2008Paper Cup2008Ohio2008Sauce2008Lover2008Thistle2008'Tis The SeasonThe Skye Project, director Chris Tenzis2008Red RoverThe Skye Project2008Vegging OutThe Skye Project2008AliceThe Skye Project2008FamiliesThe Skye Project2008CallThe Skye Project2008Light-Up ShoesThe Skye Project2008PresidentThe Skye Project2009Ballerina2009Sunbeam2009Your Poverty2009Sleepy Girl2010Wonder2010Pulp2010Anne2010Dance2011EraseThe Disorders Series2011EvidenceThe Disorders Series2011SmolderThe Disorders Series2011NectarThe Disorders Series2011EchoThe Disorders Series2012Debris2012Mirror, Mirror, Mirror2012Metamorphisis2013Suspension2013Dear God,2013Fractured: Parts 1 - 7SHOWstudio2013JamSHOWstudio2013The Tale of the Bravest WarriorSHOWstudio2014Dirty Pictures2014302015Let2015Arrows2015Untitled2015MOONSEED2016Learning2016One Awareness2016The Special People2016Artist Video Portrait Series44 videos of 1 min. in length each2016Alchemy2016Unopened Opened2016Yoke2017The Plastic Sea2017All The King's Horses2017Bleed2017Sometime2017Wish2018Soft2018God Never Gives You More Than You Can Handle2018Arrangement in Blue and Gold No.12018Secret2018Contaminate2019Come2020BYE DAD2020Tomorrow2020Recess2020Q/U/A/R/I/N/T/I/N/E 2022Blue Transcendence 2022Birth2023Archipelago2023Love Is Power2023The EmpressThe Tarot Project2023The High PriestessThe Tarot Project2023The MagicianThe Tarot Project2023The FoolThe Tarot Project2024Photosynthesis2024Held2024Art for Heartbreak2024Goodbye: A Ritual2024Hold2025Smoke2026Providence2026The Escape
Music videos +YearArtistTitle2008Prussia"Painting Over You and Me"2011Soft Metals"Psychic Driving"2011JF Robitaille"When We Say Goodbye"2013Soft Metals"On A Cloud"2014Soft Metals"No Turning Back"2017Vyy"Ardorous Gyre"2017Feirro Ex Machina"Annealing the Unprecious Ore"2018The Johns"Blood Run Free"2020The Grasping Straws"Help"2020The Johns"Wistful: Parts 1+2"2021Toby Goodshank"Tara"2021Popular Music"Somewhere"2023Lloyd Daylight"Stargate"2025Toby Goodshank"Chariot Year"2025Preston Spurlock"The Pain Is Universal"
References
External links Official Website
Vimeo Page Letterboxd Entry In Coversation with performance artist Matthew Silver The Experimental Film Podcast Interview Talking With Ghosts Podcast Interview