Program 2019

KW Institute for Contemporary Art presents program 2019

KW Institute for Contemporary Art is pleased to announce its artistic program for 2019. Continuing its investigation of “the body” and its relationship to politics, identity, technology, and architecture, the program for 2019 extends the scope by digging deeper into the disintegration and constraints of the political and collective body.

A year with Renee Gladman
January–December 2019
KW and Schwules Museum organize a one-year writer’s residency that will complement both institutions’ program and explore the substantial archive at the Schwules Museum, which remains unaltered over the past decades and highlights the history and culture of LGBTIQ communities in Berlin. The American poet and novelist Renee Gladman (b. 1971, US) has been selected as resident. More

Pause: Jimmy Robert, Emma Hedditch, Every Ocean Hughes (After Ian White)
January 19–20, 2019
May 18–19, 2019
August 24–25, 2019
To launch the exhibition seasons, KW presents a three-part Pause series dedicated to the late Ian White (1971–2013). An artist, performer, curator, teacher, and writer based in London and Berlin, White’s work responded critically to the role of institutional infrastructures in the production of art. The program is comprised of works of White’s friends and collaborative associates—Jimmy Robert (b. 1975, GP), Emma Hedditch (b. 1972, GB), and Every Ocean Hughes (b. 1977, US)—and will explore how their shared work and White’s legacy continues to influence contemporary performance and durational collaboration. More

David Wojnarowicz: Photography & Film 1978–1992
February 9–May 5, 2019
American artist and activist David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992) came into prominence in the East Village art world of the 1980s, forging an expansive range of work both fiercely political and highly personal. The exhibition will be the first to solely concentrate on his photographic and filmic work. More

Reza Abdoh
February 9–May 5, 2019
Co-produced with MoMA PS1, KW shows the work of the late American-Iranian theater maker Reza Abdoh (1963–1995), whose plays were, by all accounts, immersive, confrontational, and often shocking. More

TIES, TALES, AND TRACES. Dedicated to Frank Wagner, Independent Curator (1958–2016)
February 9–May 5, 2019
For nearly 40 years German curator and writer Frank Wagner (1958–2016) was part of RealismusStudio, a curatorial working group of the neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK) in Berlin. Wagner also was one of the first curators in Europe to address the topic of AIDS. More

Schering Stiftung Art Award 2018: Anna Daučíková
June 7–August 18, 2019
Anna Daučíková (b. 1950, SK) is the recipient of the Schering Stiftung Art Award 2018 bestowed by the Schering Stiftung in cooperation with KW. In her work the Slovakian artist links reflections on the role and aftermath of modernism in Eastern European societies with notions of the political body. More

Art Club 2000
June 22–September 1, 2019
Art Club 2000 was founded in 1992 in New York and remained active until 2000. Through strategies of appropriation and cultural critique, Art Club 2000 reflected upon the drastic changes in society and also challenged the conventional notions of authorship. More

Image Bank
June 22–September 1, 2019
Image Bank was a term coined by Michael Morris and Vincent Trasov in 1970 to describe and define an artist’s network. The Canadian artists used the postal system to create a network by regularly sending out image-request lists to artists and friends. The exhibition will be the first survey of the network which operated from 1970–1977. More

The Making of Husbands: Christina Ramberg in Dialogue  
September 14, 2019 – January 5, 2020
Christina Ramberg (1946–1995) was one of the most intriguing American painters to emerge within a generation of Chicago Imagists. Ramberg’s understanding of the body as an environment is closely intertwined with its surrounding as shaped by corsets, hairdos as well as behavioural conventions. More

Hreinn Friðfinnsson
September 28, 2019–January 5, 2020
As one of Iceland’s leading artists, Hreinn Friðfinnsson (b. 1943, IS) is celebrated for his lyrical and poetic use of everyday objects. His vocabulary, underscored by a delicate sense of humour, playfully implements storytelling and perceptual ploys. More

Kris Lemsalu
September 28, 2019–January 5, 2020
Estonian artist Kris Lemsalu’s (b. 1985, EE) work carries the memory of local mythologies onto the surfaces of objects that resemble artifacts and byproducts of contemporary civilization. More

KW Production Series: Andrea Büttner & Rachel O’Reilly
For its second year of commissioning, KW Production Series engages the work of two Berlin-based artists: Andrea Büttner and Rachel O’Reilly. Already in development, these new moving image works will be premiered in the fall of 2019. More

Press Contact
Karoline Köber
T +49 30 243459 41
press [​at​] kw-berlin.de

KW Institute for Contemporary Art is institutionally supported by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe, Berlin.

A year with Renee Gladman takes place in collaboration with the Schwules Museum, Berlin. Pause takes place in collaboration with Kirsty Bell, Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art, DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, and the Estate of Ian White. The exhibitions by David Wojnarowicz, Reza Abdoh and Frank Wagner are funded by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe, Berlin, and the KW Friends. The exhibition by David Wojnarowicz is generously supported by P·P·O·W Gallery, New York, and Coleção Moraes-Barbosa. The exhibition by Reza Abdoh is co-produced with MoMA PS1 and generously supported by the Marina Kellen French Foundation, Casper, and Coleção Moraes-Barbosa. The exhibition by Frank Wagner takes place in collaboration with RealismusStudio and Between Bridges. The exhibition by Anna Daučíková is held in cooperation with the Schering Stiftung. Art Club 2000 is co-produced with Artists Space, New York, and Kunsthalle Zurich. Image Bank is co-produced with the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver. The exhibition by Hreinn Friðfinnsson is co-produced with the Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève. KW Production Series is made possible with generous support by the Julia Stoschek Foundation and OUTSET Germany_Switzerland.

Titles and exhibition dates are subject to change.