After her studies at Accademia di belle Arti di Brera in Milan with Domenico Cantatore, the artist lived in New York for some time. Then she studied atomic dissolution using the example of the scanning tunneling at the Institute of Physics at Rutgers with Richard Garfunkel in New Jersey. Then she returned to Vienna in order to continue atomic dissolution studies with Michael Schmid at the Intistute of Physics.
The close connection between science and art is characteristic of Karin Hazelwander's creative work, which deals with microscopic structures of microchips, protozoa and platelets altered under the effect of poison gas. In her art, she also studies the dissolution of the traditional culture concept, with world views and perception dispositions.
At the beginning of the 1990s, she became interested in the work group "electron orbit": Traces of motion, that seem to follow a mysterious rhythm. Cut-outs serve as the base of oils, some of which are quite large. Here, the traces materialize to become black bars which structure the white surface by multiple intersections. The next step she makes is instead of analyzing the given structure, she studies possible structures obtained by computer simulation. Her claim to make reality beyond our perception threshold visible including hidden processes that “keep the world together”, has become concrete in these pictures.
In 1984, the artist exhibited at the Museum Moderner Kunst in Vienna. In 1988, she showed her works in the Museum Ludwig, Cologne. In 1989, she exhibited her works at PAC Gallery, Chicago. In 1993, she created her Perambulator sculpture, a kind of "walking machine" that was installed at the Österreichischer Skulpturenpark. In 1994, she also exhibited at the Landesgalerie Linz and in cooperation with Ars Electronica. In 1997, she exhibited at the Federal Artothek in Vienna, and in 2000, at Kunsthalle Steyr.