Florian Germann: Twelve Lives

Florian Germann’s sculptures are open systems in which humans, animals, technology and the environment intersect. The sculptures respond to their surroundings, set processes in motion and render invisible forces perceptible. At the heart of the work is the question of how energy circulates and is transformed between organic life, artificial systems and materials. Germann’s sculptures can become environments that are both perceptual and formative—instruments that channel energy, shape sensory impressions, and forge connections between different forms of life.

The result is a body of work that may function as sculpture, model, experimental apparatus or habitat. They evoke apparatuses that receive, transmit, or transform, while leaving open whether they were constructed, grew, or emerged from another reality. Some are indeed taken up by plants, insects or birds; others hold such encounters open as a possibility. This ambiguity creates spaces for speculation in which new ideas of coexistence and materiality can unfold.

In the comprehensive solo exhibition Twelve Lives at Kunstmuseum Appenzell, these different forms of work come together, extending to encompass the Kunstmuseum itself and the threshold between interior and exterior space. The exhibition is not understood as a retrospective overview but shows new productions together with older groups of works as a dynamic system of relationships within ongoing artistic research. 

Accompanying the exhibition, a monograph on the artist’s work will be published by DISTANZ Verlag in February 2027. The publication focuses on the sustainable mediation and art-historical contextualisation of a body of work developed consistently over more than two decades. In addition to reproductions of works and installation views, the publication includes an interview between the curator Stefanie Gschwend and the artist, an art-historical essay by Raphael Gygax, as well as a thematic essay by Linda Jensen. The publication is designed by the graphic design studio Supersoft, Zurich. 

Bio
Florian Germann (b. 1978, Kreuzlingen, Switzerland; lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland) combines technical precision with conceptual research and a speculative narrative style in his artistic practice. This combination gives rise to multi-layered visual worlds in which myth, political imagination and historical reflection are woven together into compelling constellations. Following training as a cabinetmaker (1995–1996) and stone sculptor (1996–2000), he worked in art restoration (2000–2003) before studying Fine Art at Zurich University of the Arts from 2004 to 2008. This combination of material knowledge, historical awareness and narrative construction continues to shape his work to this day. 

He first came to public attention in 2009 with the Nationale Suisse Art Prize at Liste—The Young Art Fair in Basel, as well as with the solo exhibition Der Werwolf von Wien at BolteLang, Zurich. This was followed by projects such as The Poltergeist Experimental Group (PEG) at the Migros Museum of Contemporary Art, Zurich (2011), Wendigo River at Galerie Gregor Staiger, Zurich (2013), as well as Heavy Rain (2015) and Electro Magnetic Fields at MAVRA, Berlin (2016). In 2018, he presented key works from his historically charged, installation-based practice with Die Stral / Nachrichten von Heinrich Bullinger at the University of Zurich and Ringer at Gregor Staiger. This was followed by raised by dogs at Galerie Gregor Staiger, Zurich (2020) and the site-specific project eurowolf at the Istituto Svizzero di Roma (2020). In 2023, he presented Der Empfang in Zurich and Milan, followed in 2024 by the institutional solo exhibition Eranos Machine at Casa Rusca, Locarno.

In addition to numerous group exhibitions—including at the Renaissance Society, Chicago, the Kunstmuseum Thurgau and the Helmhaus, Zurich—Germann has received several awards, including working grants from the City and Canton of Zurich, the Swiss Art Award (2016) and, in 2023, the International Art Prize of the Province of Vorarlberg.

Curator: Stefanie Gschwend, Director Kunstmuseum / Kunsthalle Appenzell. / Press contact: Luca Tarelli, ltarelli@kunstmuseumappenzell.ch.