Hall of Fame

Inspiration for an event by Veruschka von Lehndorff (Germany, born 1939). She was the world's first supermodel and pioneer in the art of bodypainting.

After a bodypainting showcase in a public park in the first year, founder Alex Barendregt decided to create a competition, the European Bodypainting Awards were born.

Photography was always an essential part of the festival. The first winner of the photo competition was Werner Köstenberger.

A new and exciting category was introduced to the competition. With spectacular special effects there were nearly no limitations in the artists creativity.

The first fine art exhibition took place during the festival week.

As Alex's hotel room got too tight, we moved the aftershow party to the main venue. Colors were flying around after Sebastian Langer from Kryolan had decided to spice up the party with colours. "We need some more paint in here!", by DJ Matt Emulsion was born.

With a very atmospheric festival and a huge fireworks on the lake it was time to say goodbye from Seeboden. Politics and problems in the neighborhood forced us to look for a new venue.

Artists have done installation art projects at the WBF some time before, but in 2013 we introduced another new cateogry, the Installation Art Award. 7 categories were already present at that time.

Shortly after the 19th edition, a reflection time came. In the end, we didn't give up and got an option for a new venue, Klagenfurt, that gave us new possibilities with all of their cultural institutions.

This positive euphoria for the WBF 2020 was suddenly stopped. Everything changed in one day. Our initally small idea to organize a reduced live festival and an online contest turned into a hybrid mega event with 600+ participants from 55 nation in 17 time zones.
The FIRST World Championships (anywhere in the world) in Covid times that went from a live into an online format.

In the 24th year of existance, we are introducing a brand new format, the World Award in Camouflage Bodypainting. The plan was already in 2020 but due to the COVID pandemic we had to postpone it to 2021. We are welcoming artists from 50+ nations in 14 different categories, plus additionally awards for photography, the model award and a DJ award.

Generation Next was announced in 2022 and from 2023 we moved into an indoor location. The WBF always had to adapt to new situations and challanges. It showed in 2022 already how hard Covid hit us as a community and event organizer. Keep on fighting for our community was our goal.

The Exhibition ARENA in Klagenfurt should be the beginning of a new format. We decided to focus on the artform with photography and videography. Big music concerts and headliners were not part of the new plan. The indoor location gave contestants a very equal and fair basis for the contest. Amazing works were presented and captured.

The original spirit of the WBF as an outdoor event was missing, the contest though got a higher quality and the layout was benefitial for the World Awards.