Author: alexander

Stadtbad Chemnitz, 10.10.2025. Art of Assembly (Florian Malzacher), Kulturhauptstadt Europa 2025

The New Patrons are, alongside KOW, my second major project of the last almost 20 years. At its core, it is a cultural-political project “from below,” or rather from civil society, that neither stems from artistic autonomy nor from party or government politics, but from the needs and ideas of citizens. I have played a key role in establishing this program in Germany.

Sommerakademie Salzburg, ETH Zurich, Hoschschule Luzern, École Superieure de Beaux Art Paris, NYU New York, Goldsmith College London, HKM Cologne, Bauhaus Universität Weimar, HfbK Dresden, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Kunstakademie Weissensee, UDK Berlin, Universität Lüneburg, HfbK Hamburg

KOW, the gallery that I co-founded and whose programme I have primarily curated, is a private enterprise. But it is also a space for creating public moments and visibility. Since 2009, alongside our exhibitions, we have hosted numerous public events with diverse audiences: discussions, conferences, concerts, performances, readings, and book releases. Each exhibition opening is also a public event and sometimes a celebration. In fact, a gallery like KOW serves as a nexus between private and public interests, discourses, and economies, both in terms of its claims and functions.

Pınar Öğrencis Werk versteht es, uns die Vergangenheit so in den Schoß zu legen, dass wir uns um sie kümmern müssen, um in Zukunft anders zu leben. Mit ihrem Projekt Glück auf in Deutschland! stieg Öğrencis 2024 hinab in die Archive der Gastarbeitergeschichte des Ruhrgebiets und brachte Leben und Bilder zu Tage, die unbekannt sind. Körper und… Continue reading Pınar Öğrenci: Good Luck in Germany!

Benjamin-Immanuel Hoff, bis 2024 Minister für Kultur, Bundes- und Europaangelegenheiten im Freistaat Thüringen, sprach mit mir in seinem Podcast Kunst der Freiheit über Kunst im Bürgerauftrag. 

“Von Bürgergruppen beauftragte Kunstwerke können eine Chance für mehr Teilhabe sein, sagt Galarist Alexander Koch. Er hat die „Neuen Auftraggeber“ mitgegründet – mit dem Ziel, dass Künstler im Auftrag von Bürgern Kunstwerke entwickeln.”

KOW Berlin

In 2024, as the world continued to militarize and Berlin played a dubious role, we focused on the vulnerability inherent in human bodies and systems. Featuring works by Anna Boghiguian, Candice Breitz, CATPC, Alice Creischer, Chto Delat, Clegg & Guttmann, Heinrich Dunst, Anna Ehrenstein & Rebecca Pokua Korang, Sophia Eisenhut & Max Eulitz, León Ferrari, Peter Friedl, Sophie Gogl, Barbara Hammer, Ramon Haze, Hiwa K, Hudinilson Jr., Simon Lehner, Pınar Öğrenci, Mario Pfeifer, Dierk Schmidt, Michael E. Smith, Helena Uambembe, Franz Erhard Walther, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Tobias Zielony. Curated by Alexander Koch, Nikolaus Oberhuber, and Anna Wlach.

Wenn es um die Frage geht, wie sich eine verantwortliche künstlerische Position im auf und ab der Zeiten formulieren kann, ist Alice Creischer eine bedeutende Stimme der politischen Kunst in Deutschland. Ihre neue Ausstellung bei KOW handelt von Kunst im Klimakatastrophenkapitalismus und findet – horcht auf! – eine Lösung? Mehr, immer mehr! Das geht nicht… Continue reading Alice Creischer. Sursursurplus, KOW (2024)

Erschienen in Kunstforum International, Band 297

Wie ordnen wir uns an? Wie werden wir angeordnet? Und wie lässt sich das zeigen? Clemens von Wedemeyers neue Filme, die KOW anlässlich des Gallery Weekend 2024 zeigt, tauchen ein in die Frage nach der Netzwerkhaftigkeit unserer Existenz und problematisieren deren Darstellbarkeit. Hauptwerk der Ausstellung ist ein abstrakter Animationsfilm. Vor schwarzem Grund nehmen weiße Punkte… Continue reading Clemens von Wedemeyer. Social Geometry, KOW (2024)

Das Berliner Straßenmagazin Karuna Kompass lud die Gesellschaft der Neuen Auftraggeber als Gastredaktion ein. Unterstützt von Chefredakteurin Astrid Mania entstand ein ganzes Heft über Kunst im Bürgerauftrag. Im Oktober und November 2024 war der Karuna Kompass #58 in einer Auftrage von 30.000 Exemplaren auf den Straßen Berlins erhältlich.

Über Zensur und Staatsräson in Deutschland. Erschienen auf Artmagazine.cc und in englischer Übersetzung auf spikeartmagazine.com

Museum Folkwang Essen
Symposium „New Landscapes – NFTs and the Museum“.
In February 2022, the Congolese Plantation Workers Art League (CATPC) minted the Balot NFT – a first case of digital restitution…

TRAFO-Ideenkongress 2023: Förderung zwischen Qualitätsanspruch und Nachhaltigkeit. Mit Doreen Götzky, Kirsten Haß, Gesine Märtens, Alexander Koch, Moderation: Ellen Schweda

Peter Friedl is a historian. Historians want to tell (hi)stories, and that, we might say, is what Friedl does, though he doesn’t tell them in linear fashion and certainly not through to the end. Rather, Friedl creates spectacles—in Greek, theatra—: scenes where there is something to see. Situations in which something happens, or perhaps put more… Continue reading Teatro Popular. Peter Friedl, KOW

Published in: François Hers, Opération Nouveaux Commanditaires, Paris 2023
For François Hers’ book, I shed light on the question of whether the protocol of the New Patrons has a “universal character”.

No English version, I am sorry.

Ein Gespräch zwischen dem Kunsthistoriker und Kulturwissenschaftler Wolfgang Ullrich und dem Kunstsammler Mario von Kelterborn. Eingeladen von KOW und Ludwig Seyfarth (Kurator und Kunstkritiker). Moderation: Alexander Koch

Marco Castillo and his family have lived in exile in Mexico from Cuba since 2019. His new exhibition at KOW turns the spotlight on the censorship and repression regime in Cuba, which has grown more severe in recent years. What sets it apart from the exertion and impact of violence in some other autocracies is… Continue reading Casa Negra. Marco Castillo, KOW

Sculpture Museum Marl

After years of research, Mario Pfeifer brought this film project to fruition, in which I was involved from the screenplay to the editing. The film received the Hessian Film Prize in 2023 and – even more importantly – the German Human Rights Film Prize in 2024. The death of asylum seeker Oury Jalloh in police custody in Dessau became one of the largest judicial scandals in Germany. Despite all efforts to cover it up, Mario Pfeifer revisited the case and, with his film project, provided new evidence. That police officers actually murdered Oury Jalloh, which seems to be the only plausible conclusion, is still being denied by the judiciary, politics, and the media to this day.

Meine Gespräche mit Künstlerinnen und Künstlern basieren auf einer langen Freundschaft und Zusammenarbeit. Ich denke, sie gehen tiefer als die meisten Interviews es können. Mit Renzo Martens verbrachte ich einen langen Abend in meinem Gartenhaus in Brandenburg – irgendwann starteten wir das Mikrofon.

In 2018, I was asked to develop a concept for documenta 15. I had already tried several times to transfer the methodology of citizen-commissioned art to different biennial formats. But documenta meant a different scale. I held out little hope that my proposal would go through, but it was interesting to develop this plan. In truth it was rather utopian and it would actually have taken ten years instead of five to create what I had in mind. As the “face” and front person of d15, I was able to enlist Bruno Latour, a long-time partner of the New Patrons. I would have worked behind the scenes. As we know, the selection committee then decided in favor of Ruangrupa. Since the public never heard about my idea, I am documenting it here.

Published in: Vera Hofmann, Johannes Euler, Linus Zurmühlen, Silke Helfrich (Eds.), Commoning Art. Die transformativen Potenziale von Commons in der Kunst, Bielefeld 2022
No English translation available.

Ein umfassender Band mit Werkstatteinblicken in künstlerische und bürgerschaftliche Prozesse der Zusammenarbeit. Erstmals ist hier die “Kunst im Bürgerauftrag” in vielen Details nachvollziehbar.
Neue Auftraggeber. Kunst im Bürgerauftrag. Mit Gerrit Gohlke, Alexander Koch, Tina Veihelmann. Herausgeber: Gesellschaft der Neuen Auftraggeber – GNA gGmbH. Gestaltung: Marie Lautsch. Spector Books, Leipzig 2022

Gespräche mit Alice Creischer geraten schnell tief und sind substantiell. Über 20 Jahre sind wir verbunden, als wir uns im Herbst 2022 in meinem Brandenburger Gartenhaus treffen.

Ich lud Olga Egorova/Tsaplya und Dmitry Vilesky von Chto Delat in mein Gartenhaus in Brandenburg, nachdem sie aus Russland hatten fliehen und alls zurücklassen müssen. Ich habe ihren Weg über zehn Jahre lang begleitet.

KOW Berlin

The exhibition was a response to the climate of accusatory labeling that has taken hold in German media and politics since documenta 15—an atmosphere that has increasingly threatened artistic and free expression in the country (and in many others), often resulting in censorship and defunding. Featuring works by Anna Boghiguian, Candice Breitz, Marco A. Castillo, Alice Creischer, Chto Delat, Heinrich Dunst, Anna Ehrenstein, Peter Friedl, Sophie Gogl, Clegg & Guttmann, Barbara Hammer, Hiwa K, Simon Lehner, Renzo Martens, Oswald Oberhuber, Mario Pfeifer, Santiago Sierra, Michael E. Smith, and Franz Erhard Walther. Curated by Alexander Koch

Am 30.09.2022 stellten wir, die Neuen Auftraggeber, zusammen mit Hortensia Völckers (Künstlerische Direktorin und Vorstand der Kulturstiftung des Bundes) eine Bilanz der sechsjährigen Pilotphase der Neuen Auftraggeber in Deutschland vor. Akteure aus beispielgebenden Projekten wurden live hinzugeschaltet. Neben qualitativen Erfolgen ließen sich über statistische Zahlen auch quantitative Ergebnisse zeigen.

Gäbe es ihn nicht – man müsste ihn erfinden. Mit Heinrich Dunst verbindet mich eine lange und tiefe Freundschaft. Erst später wurde ich auch sein Galerist. Er kam von Wien in mein Brandenburger Gartenhaus, und wir nahmen einfach auf.

„WirKommunalen – Nachgefragt!“ ist der Podcast des Netzwerks der Jungen Bürgermeister*innen. Von Henning Witzel.

Conversation in French between Lusanga, DRC, and Berlin

CATPC and Renzo Martens’s exhibition at KOW marks a new stage in their longstanding collaboration, in which they delve deep into both colonial relations and the mechanics of the art world, in order to understand and alter them. The show features six new documentary films (2022), Martens’s widely discussed film White Cube (2020), and the… Continue reading CATPC & Renzo Martens. Balot, KOW (2022)

Published in: Gesellschaft der Neuen Auftraggeber (Hg.), Kunst im Bürgerauftrag, Leipzig/ Berlin, 2022
No English text available.

Ein Comicbuch, das von den Möglichkeiten einer gemeinsamen Zukunft erzählt. Es entstand, als zehntausende geflüchtete Menschen 2015 nach Berlin kamen und ich etwas tun wollte, und dann auch konnte.
Temple of Refuge. Im Auftrag von Sartep Namiq. Mit Felix Mertikat, Sartep Namiq, Bruce Sterling, Matthias Zuber. Konzept, Entwicklung und Produktion: Alexander Koch. Egmont Comic Collection, Berlin, 2021

Bei dieser Kooperation hat ARCH+ ein Sonderheft über Projekte der Neuen Auftraggeber gemacht, die sich mit Architektur und Städtebau befassen.
ARCH+ features 104: Initiator of Change: New Patrons. Mit Anh-Linh Ngo und Jane Rendell. Herausgegeben von ARCH+ in Kooperation mit der Gesellschaft der Neuen Auftraggeber. ARCH+, Berlin 2021

Published in: Franziska Richter / Friedrich Ebert Stiftung: Traum(a)land, Wer wir sind und sein könnte, Identität & Zusammenhalt in Ost und West, Bonn 2021
No English version available.

In this book, over 45 authors from different generations in East and West Germany report on their experiences of transformation over the last few decades from a wide variety of perspectives. Since I moved from the West (NRW) to the East (Dresden) in 1992, I have my own history with reunification, from which I look at today.

I don’t want to. I can’t. I mustn’t! Not now. Maybe I’ll come back to it tomorrow. We’re perpetually compelled to postpone what we would want, should do, might wish for. Acting hasn’t felt like this in a long time: like an uncertain proposition that’s presumably inappropriate just now and may well be just as… Continue reading Jars. Sophie Gogl, KOW

Published in: Martin Köttering (ed.), Lerchenfeld Nr. 57, Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg, April 2021
No English version available.

Published in: Martin Köttering (ed.), Lerchenfeld No. 57, April 2021, Hamburg University of Fine Arts

I was invited to write an opening essay for Lerchenfeld Magazine, in which I took up my academic work on the “Dropping out of art” somewhat humorously and without any theoretical pretensions.

Auf Einladung von Candice Breitz und Bettina Steinbrügge machte ich 2021 – mitten im Corona Lockdown – diesen Beitrag zu ihrer Reihe ‘This is Germany’.

It’s a hot potato, that restitution business. The formerly colonized demand the return of the cultural assets that were stolen from them during the colonial era or that entered German collections in questionable ways. The Federal Republic, for its part, argues that it isn’t all quite so simple—and actually rebuilds the old palace of the… Continue reading Dierk Schmidt. Kolonnen – Hohenzollern ist jetzt ein Verb, KOW (2020)

Published in: Magazine #34, Dilemmata, German Federal Cultural Foundation, 2020
No English text available.

This issue of KSB Magazine tackled a difficult topic: Dilemmas that we find ourselves in time and time again. I was concerned with the following: Today’s forms of representation can no longer mobilize the belief that the few adequately represent the many. At the same time, new forms of self-representation are emerging that are looking for ways to institutionalize themselves (and gain power). The dilemma is that the desire for more co-determination beyond the usual representative processes is driving actors and methods across the political spectrum, from the far left to the far right, and thus does not per se amount to more public spirit and democratic esprit. This is a challenge for committed contemporary art. It must reposition itself.

Erschienen auf: p|art|icipate, ejournal des Programmbereich Gesellschaft & Nachhaltigkeit | Zeitgenössische Kunst und Kulturproduktion, Universität Salzburg

Mediation im Programm Neue Auftraggeber – ein Handlungsmodell

Published in: Norbert Sievers, Ulrike Blumenreich, Sabine Dengel, Christine Wingert (ed.), Jahrbuch für Kulturpolitik 2019/20
No English version available.

Published in: Hildegund Amanshauser, Kimberly Bradley, Navigating the Planetary. A guide to the planetary art world—its past, present, and potentials, Internationale Sommerakademie für Bildende Kunst Salzburg, Vienna 2020

IRRE Bauhaus Institut für Regionale Realitätsexperimente, Bauhaus Universität Weimar

“The Last Day of the Year” is a story – my literary debut. On December 31, 2018, my girlfriend Maria Magdalena L. drowned in the Atlantic; I myself barely survived. The text recounts the weeks before and after this event. It has not yet been published. I am providing reading samples here – not in English though.

Earthworms are making themselves at home in the White House. They wiggle their way into the Oval Office and the private apartments, dangle from the flagpole on the roof, smear the star-spangled banner with their slime. Yuck. Sweet. Our exhibition opens with the video Casa Blanca, created in 2005. The desecration of a proud symbol?… Continue reading Leon Ferrari. Toasted Angels, Sounds of Steel. KOW

neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst und Berlinische Galerie. Mit Marius Babias, Jochen Becker, Claudia Büttner, Matthias Einhoff, Lilian Engelmann, Elke Falat, Guido Fassbender, Thomas Flierl, Sophie Goltz, Simone Hain, Hauke Heumann, Folke Köbberling, Alexander Koch, Thomas Köhler, Stefan Krüskemper, Felix Laubscher, María Linares, Maria Lind, Elfriede Müller, Constanze Musterer, Cornelia Offergeld, Adam Page, Britta Peters, Kerstin Polzin, Juschka Marie von Rüden, Karin Scheel, Heinz Schütz, Simon Sheikh, Park Fiction / PlanBude (Margit Czenki, Christoph Schäfer, Renée Tribble), Claudia Wahjudi, Joanna Warsza, Torsten Wöhlert

Paneldiskussion im Grünen Salon der Berliner Volksbühne mit Lewamm Ghebremariam (Kampagnenstrategin change.or), Christopher Lauer (Publizist und ehemaliges Mitglied des Berliner Abgeordnetenhauses) und Alexander Koch (Direktor Gesellschaft der Neuen Auftraggeber, Berlin), Moderation: Christine Watty (Deutschlandfunk)

Paneldiskussion im Grünen Salon der Berliner Volksbühne mit Mark Terkessidis (Autor und Migrationsforscher), Wolfgang Merkel (Wissenschaftszentrum für Sozialforschung, Berlin), Dr. Juliane Stückrad (Büro für Angewandte Kulturforschung, Eisenach/ Lehrstuhl für Volkskunde an der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena) und Alexander Koch (Direktor Gesellschaft der Neuen Auftraggeber, Berlin). Moderation: Simone Miller.

A meeting of two classics: Clegg & Guttmann and Franz Erhard Walther, curated by Nikolaus Oberhuber and Alexander Koch. A fantastic exhibition!

Urban policy in Berlin, neo-feudal transformation, institutionalized injustice. These issues are not being addressed for the first time in an exhibition at KOW. Featuring works by Alice Creischer, Dierk Schmidt, Michael E. Smith, Brandlhuber+, Larissa Fassler, Adelita Husni-Bey, Peng!, Andrea Pichl, Andreas Siekmann, Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca, Weekend & Plaste. Curated by Alexander Koch and Nikolaus Oberhuber.

Fluentum Collection Berlin

On the invitation of Fluentum Collection Berlin Nikolaus Oberhuber and I developed this project, that listens to moving image artworks as much as it looks at them, focusing on their audible, sonic concepts and qualities. With Patty Chang, Frank Heath, Hiwa K, Adelita Husni-Bey, Sven Johne, Ferhat Özgür, Stefan Panhans, Martin Skauen, Hito Steyerl, Vibeke Tandberg, Ignacio Uriarte, Katarina Zdjelar.

Paneldiskussion im Grünen Salon der Berliner Volksbühne mit Alice Creischer (Künstlerin, Autorin), Dorothea von Hantelmann (Kunsthistorikerin, Kuratorin),  Maria Schmidt (Aktivistin, Extinction Rebellion), Zoë Claire Miller (Künstlerin, Sprecherin bbk berlin, Mitbegründerin Berlin Art Prize), Moderation: Alexander Koch

Paneldiskussion im Grünen Salon der Berliner Volksbühne, in Kooperation mit der Berghof Foundation, mit Hans-Joachim Gießmann (Executive Director der Berghof Foundation), Nicole Rieber (Projektmanagerin Digitale Friedenspädagogik), Angela Mickley (emer., Konfliktbearbeitung, Friedenserziehung und Ökologie im an der FH Potsdam), Mechthild von Schwerin (Mediatorin, Landschaftsplanerin, Künstlerin), Moderation: Alexander Koch

Guided tour of Ahmet Ögüt’s exhibition

Published in: Howaldt, Kaletka, Schröder, Zirngiebl (Ed.), Atlas of Social Innovation. 2nd Volume – A World of new Practices, 2019
“The “Atlas of Social Innovation” series offers a comprehensive overview of the world of Social Innovation in a lucid way. It is featuring the perspectives of leading experts from research and practice. It gives insights into multifaceted manifestations, contexts and perspectives of social innovation.”

Again / Noch Einmal – Film Project (2018)

In Again / Noch Einmal (2018), Mario Pfeifer deals with an incident that has become so typical for Germany: In May 2016, there was an unpleasant scene at the checkout of a supermarket in Arnsdorf (near Dresden, Saxony). The young man Shabaz Al-Aziz, who had fled Iraq to Germany in 2015, wanted to return a faulty SIM-Card…

Alice Creischer’s third exhibition at KOW is a snapshot of contemporary German politics, as well as an illustration of political and creative continuity. In the gallery’s downstairs showroom, the works make for a choppy survey of social developments of the past thirty years and more, developments that have been subjected to so much critical analysis… Continue reading Alice Creischer. His Master’s Voice. KOW

Interview by Saskia Trebing, published in: Monopol, Magazin für Kunst und Leben, 08.09.2018
No English version available.

TRAFO Ideenkongress, Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Halle (Saale)

Akademie der Künste der Welt Köln, Zusammenarbeit mit Aneta Rostkowska. Mit Boris Groys, Mikołaj Iwański, Alexander Koch, Sarah van Lamsweerde, Maria Lind, Cecylia Malik, Suhail Malik, Oliver Marboeuf, Esther Mugambi, Britta Peters, Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, Aneta Rostkowska

KOW Berlin

This exhibition came together spontaneously within just a few days as a response to the far-right escalation in Chemnitz. We are grateful to the participating artists for their immediate willingness to contribute. Featuring works by Alice Creischer, Henrike Naumann, Mario Pfeifer, Michael E. Smith, and Tobias Zielony. Curated by Alexander Koch and Nikolaus Oberhuber

At the site of the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum, Olu Oguibe installed a universal call to the youth of all nations in three languages: German and English, the most widely spoken languages in Europe, and Romani, the language of a large minority that represents one of the earliest migrant groups in Europe.

In 2018, I represented the interests of Olu Oguibe as a gallerist – and found myself caught in a severe art conflict. After dirty campaigns, the sudden dismantling of the work, and the ensuing complicated negotiations, Oguibe’s obelisk – primarily thanks to the involvement of citizens of Kassel – was permanently rebuilt and is now a landmark of the city.

neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst, Berlin
Mit Beatrice von Bismarck, Alexander Koch, Jochen Becker, Susanne Weiß, Lilian Engelmann

Presentation at the Einstein Forum Potsdam on the history, examples, and potentials of art commissioned by citizens according to the protocol of the New Patrons

Interview von Thérèse Legierse mit Alexander Koch (Die Neue Auftraggeber, Berlin) über die Implementierung des Protokolls der Neuen Auftraggeber in Deutschland.

Interview by Thérèse Legiers with Alexander Koch (Die Neue Auftraggeber, Berlin) about his activities in Africa.

“Published in: Exhibition publication Neues Museum Nürnberg, 2017
No English version available.

Writing about art can be strange. I only had photos of the installation and simply began to describe what I was seeing. I had no idea what my reading of this unassuming installation would lead to – and was then filled with humility and awe at how Michael E Smith had managed to get to the heart of the Nazi history of the city of Nuremberg. I only came up with the title of the text once I understood that.”

Das d14-Bashing hatte mich geärgert. Ich war dankbar, in diesem Interview erklären zu können, was ich von der documenta 14 glaubte, gelernt zu haben.

Something is clawing away at the foundations. Swarms of thinkers are busy undermining a worldview in which the human being sits at the center. What Sloterdijk once portrayed polemically as the degressive line of development from God to man and from man to Smurf might be described as a series of narcissistic wounds dealt to… Continue reading Heinrich Dunst. Things, Not Words. KOW

More light! Build more lighthouses! Drink phosphorus! As autocrats and neo-feudalists in the United States, Turkey, Poland, Great Britain, and other countries turn off the lights, something must shine the brighter. But what? What should be done? Chto Delat?! That is the signature question under which this collective of artists, intellectuals, and activists from Moscow… Continue reading On the Possibility of Light. Chto Delat, KOW

Published in: Eva Barois de Caevel, Els Roelandt (ed.), CATPC, Cercle d’art des travailleurs de plantation congolaise, Congolese Plantation Workers Art League, Sternberg Press 2020

I have been involved in the CATPC and Renzo Martens project for many years. Both are represented by KOW. Here I have presented – from the gallerist’s point of view – how CATPC’s sculptures are created, produced and distributed.

It’s all not so simple, unfortunately. Right-wing, centrist, left-wing populism, the post-factual era, disunited and manipulated societies—it feels like an apocalyptic downward spiral, but apocalyptic moods are unhelpful. Disunion is unhelpful. The fact is: What agitates some today fills others with serenity and courage. Where emerging forms of government trigger some people’s flight instincts, others… Continue reading Mario Pfeifer.On Fear and Education, Disenchantment and Justice, Protest and Disunion in Saxony / Germany. KOW

Published in: Anna Jehle, Paul Buckermann (eds.), Kinship in Solitude, Perspectives on Notions of Solidarity, Archiv Klaus-Dieter Braun, Artists Unlimited, Bielefeld 2017

In 2015 I had the privilege of moderating the symposium “Politics of Art” for the Goethe Institute in Berlin. For the following publication, I set out to outline my fundamental fascination with Richard Rorty’s political philosophy, which has informed my work (and my writing) since the early 2000s. For me, it is a key text. The only one in which I – as academically as I can, because I am actually an essayist – set out Rorty’s position in detail and then try to make clear why I think it is so valuable to art. I owe Artists Unlimited this great translation from the German original.

It is a preeminent collection of the art of the twentieth century—perhaps the only one. From Marcel Duchamp to Andreas Baader and Jeff Koons, it covers almost a hundred years of cultural history, an era that has become strange to us. In the collection’s 154 items we espy glimpses of a universe of things and… Continue reading The Cabinet of Ramon Haze, KOW

Ich hatte das große Vergnügen, in Poka-Yios Stück EUTOPIA Helmut Kohl zu spielen … meine erste Theaterrolle. Premiere in Oslo, zwei weitere Aufführungen in Amsterdam und Berlin

Kunstakademie Münster in Kooperation mit Skulptur Projekte Münster 2017
Vortrag und Diskussion über Kunst im Bürgerauftrag

Series of Talks by Alexander Koch/ KOW at ACUD Studio Berlin

Series of Talks by Alexander Koch/ KOW at ACUD Studio Berlin

Especially during the 2010s, I contributed to the design of KOW’s art fair booths – a genre of its own.

KOW Berlin

Art from the storage – as Exhibition. With Chto Delat, Alice Creischer, Eugenio Dittborn, Heinrich Dunst, Barbara Hammer, Ramon Haze, Hiwa K, Renzo Martens, Chris Martin, Frédéric Moser & Philippe Schwinger, Mario Pfeifer, Dierk Schmidt, Tina Schulz, Michael E. Smith, Franz Erhard Walther, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Tobias Zielony, curated by Alexander Koch and Nikolaus Oberhuber

Carson Chan: In 2007 you became the co-founder of New Patrons in Germany and are today the director of this program. New Patrons is a non-for-profit organization that enables people that have been traditionally marginalized by the art world to commission artworks. Art has traditionally been commissioned by the elite. But the desire to participate… Continue reading Interview: by Carson Chan about the New Patrons in Germany and abroad (Text, 2016)

Guided tour of Heinrich Dunst’s exhibition

Lemons are being passed around. Their juice relieves the burning in the mouth and nose. It is April 17, 2011, the last day of public revolt before the suppression of the Iraqi Spring, which was barely mentioned in the international media. Amid the protesting crowd, breathing the air laced with tear gas, are two musicians:… Continue reading Hiwa K. This Lemon Tases of Apple. KOW

Die Bergen Kunsthall gab 2015 diese Publikation anlässlich meiner Ausstellung Gestures of Disappearance heraus, einer Rekonstruktion meiner gleichnamigen Ausstellung von 2002.
Gestures of Disappearance. Mit Joshua Decter und Alexander Koch. Herausgeber: Martin Clark und Steinar Sekkingstad. Bergen Kunsthall NO.5, 2015

Published in: Barbara Gronau (ed.), Künste des Anhaltens, Ästhetische Verfahren des Stillstellens, Berlin 2019
No English version available.

The conversation took place on June 5, 2015 as part of the symposium “Künste des Anhaltens” at the Sophiensälen in Berlin.

Gespräch zwischen Kathrin Busch, Alexander Koch und Peter Wiersbinski im Rahmen der Veranstaltungsreihe “Relevanz der Kunst, Kunst der Relevanz” an der HGB Leipzig

Kunsthalle Bergen / Bunkier Sztuki Krakow

2015 produzierte die Kunsthalle Bergen eine exakte Rekonstruktion meiner Ausstellung “Gestures of Disappearance” von 2002. Ich hatte alle Daten noch auf alten DVDs, und so konnten wir diese Ausstellung, die seinerzeit in Leipzig nur wenig Publikum hatte, bis in kleinste Detail wiederbeleben. Ein weitere Fassung inszenierten wir später in Krakau. Mit Arthur Cravan, Lee Lozano, Bas Jan Ader, Chris Burden, kuratiert von Alexander Koch

KOW Berlin

After its first iteration at the Secession in Vienna, I suggested to Chto Delat that they present their exhibition Time Capsule in Berlin in a completely different form—something they generously allowed. For me, it was a rare and exhilarating moment to work so freely with this kind of “material.”

Goethe-Institut in collaboration with the Akademie der Künste Berlin
On June 12 and 13, 2015, I had the pleasure of moderating this symposium, which dealt with one of my favorite questions: What is the political nature of art? In 2016, the publication “Politics of Art” appeared, in which the contributions to the symposium are collected.

Techno music plays at the far end of the earth. Squid gyrate to a strobe light, the crab industry runs like clockwork, and real men earn their peers’ respect when their fish traps are full. The sunrise is as breathtaking in Patagonia as it is in the Panoramabar in Berlin’s Berghain nightclub. Using luscious colors,… Continue reading Mario Pfeifer. Approximation in the Digital Age to a Humanity Condemned to Disappear. KOW

ADKV-ART COLOGNE Preis für Kunstkritik, Köln

“Alec, you’re famous! People will listen to you,” says Alec Baldwin to himself, a few moments before sharing the details of his arrest in Cairo, his journey to Italy on a desperately overcrowded fishing boat, and his eventual arrival in the unfamiliar city of Berlin on a rainy day in September 2015. Cut. Julianne Moore… Continue reading Candice Breitz. Love Story. KOW

Published in: Gestures of Disappearance, Exhibition catalogue Kunsthalle Bergen, 2016

In 2014 Kunsthalle Bergen proposed to reconstruct my exhibition “Gestures of Disappearance” from 2002. A great stroke of luck for an exhibition maker. My text for the catalog reflects once again what meaning the 2002 exhibition had for me, and how it came about.

Hito Steyerl’s first gallery show in Germany—on view are five video installations from 2012 to 2015—is infused with the Bruce Lee quotation “Be water, my friend!” In A Warrior’s Journey the kung fu master advises a companion going to war to be as formless as water, which swiftly adapts to new situations and can take… Continue reading Hito Steyerl. Left to Our Own Devices. KOW

In 2013, I began carrying the idea of art on commission from citizens to other countries, sometimes in collaboration with Goethe Institutes, sometimes at the invitation of third parties, and occasionally on my own initiative. Argentina, India, Iceland, Cameroon, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Sweden, Tunisia, USA. In these countries, I have met potential partners, sought mediators,… Continue reading International New Patrons Initiatives (2013–today)

Experimenter Curators’ Hub is a platform developing and sustaining discourse on curatorial practice and exhibition-making through critical discussion and debate.

Evening lecture at the Bergen Kunsthall
The lecture summarizes my theory on exiting art and highlights the cases of Lee Lozano and Charlotte Posenenske. My best lecture on this topic.

Over the past weeks, we received almost fifty letters from Santiago de Chile. Their content: around 1,600 square feet of fabric, folded up and squeezed into mailing envelopes—the pieces of twelve works Eugenio Dittborn created between 1986 and 2014. Pinturas Aeropostales: Airmail Paintings. Pictures made to travel the world by airmail from Chile that have… Continue reading Eugenio Dittborn. Pinturas Aeropostales. KOW

Published in: Vlado Velko (ed.), Public Abstraction, Arnsberg/ Cologne 2015.

As Santiago Sierra’s gallerist, I have regularly encountered dismissive statements about his work, moral criticism, even resentment. Almost always I found such statements to be based on a lack of understanding of how Sierra’s work actually works. On the basis of some important pieces, I have tried to counteract this deficit.

Published in: Brigitte Franzen (ed.): Michael E. Smith, Ludwig Forum Aachen 2013

This essay is a thorough introduction to the work of the Detroit-born artist, whom KOW has closely followed since 2008. It also retells the story of how Nikolaus Oberhuber and I first discovered this work.

Published in: polar Magazin 15, Berlin 2013
No English version available.

This text is the conclusion of a series of publications in which I have developed a theory on the differentiation of the artistic field since 2006. I still consider my descriptive model of different art fields (according to Bourdieu) to be helpful and useful for understanding and explaining the structural developments in contemporary art over the last few decades.

Erschienen in: Hans-Jürgen Hafner (Hg), Das Beste vom Besten. Vom riskanten Geschäft der Kunst, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, 2013

Das Lebenswerk der 1939 in Hollywood geborenen Experimentalfilmerin, Dokumentaristin und bildenden Künstlerin Barbara Hammer hat die Geschichte des Queer Cinema mitgeschrieben. Seit 1968 hat die erste lesbische Filmaktivistin über 80 Produktionen mit dezidiert feministischer Perspektive vorgelegt. Zeigte unsere erste Ausstellung von Barbara Hammer 2011 vor allem ihren Beitrag zur (Selbst-)Repräsentation lesbischer Liebe und Sexualität in… Continue reading Dignity. Barbara Hammer, KOW (2013)

Santiago Sierra’s competition entry for the highly controversial Monument to Freedom and Unity was disqualified in 2012 due to a “formal error” by the jury. I developed the proposal together with Sierra and document it here.

KOW Berlin

The collaboration with Arno Brandlhuber tackled the neoliberal transformation of the city—and led to the flooding of the exhibition space. The architect and urbanist Brandlhuber used his own building, in which KOW was a tenant, to renegotiate notions of ownership and property relations.

KOW Berlin

The exhibition was conceived at short notice in response to the cartoon controversy, which portrayed irrational belief systems as the sole domain of Muslims. In contrast, the project highlighted belief systems embedded within German and European society. Curated by Alexander Koch and Nikolaus Oberhuber

Between 1874 and 1996, the Canadian authorities, in concert with various churches, operated so-called Residential Schools—boarding schools designed to reeducate Canada’s aboriginals. During this time, around 250,000 children were forcibly separated from their families, isolated from the indigenous cultures, and remade into “good Christians.” They were forbidden to speak their native languages; sexual abuse and… Continue reading Tobias Zielony. Manitoba

Neun Jahre Recherche und Theoriearbeit stehen hinter dieser Publikation, die ich schließlich binnen einer Woche zusammenschrieb und gestaltete. Anlass war die KOW-Ausstellung mit Cady Noland, die ebenfalls als “Aussteigerin” galt und gilt (was falsch ist).
General Strike. Grundlagen zu Theorie und Geschichte des Kunstausstiegs. Mit Lee Lozano, Charlotte Posenenske et al. Konzept, Texte, Grafik: Alexander Koch. KOW ISSUE 8, Berlin 2011

KOW Berlin

This project marked the first time Barbara Hammer’s films were presented as artworks within an exhibition space, opening up a new field of reception for the U.S. pioneer of queer cinema. It was the beginning of a long-standing collaboration. Curated by Alexander Koch and Nikolaus Oberhuber.

Als Galerist von Chris Martin kenne ich sein Werk wie nur wenige. An seiner ersten Retrospektive konnte ich mitwirken und dann auch den Katalog konzipieren und selbst gestalten.
Chris Martin, Staring into the Sun, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. Mit Elodie Evers, Gregor Jansen, Alexander Koch, Lars Bang Larsen, Bob Nickas. Gestaltung: Alexander Koch, Herausgeber: Gregor Jansen. Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln 2011

First published in: Gregor Jansen: Chris Martin, Staring Into The Sun, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Düsseldorf, 2011

On the occasion of Chris Martin’s first survey exhibition, this essay brought together central themes of his oeuvre. A thorough reception of Martin’s work, which dates back to the 1980s, only began in the 2010s. Based on conversations with the New York painter, the text was able to present much of the content and background in a compact way for the first time.

Falls ich einen Beitrag zu Kunstgeschichte und Kunsttheorie geleistet habe, dann diesen hier. Es ist ein originäres Stück Arbeit (Recherchen, Publikationen, Vorträge), das ich 2002 begann und einige Jahre lang fortgesetzt habe. Aber erst 2011 habe ich den Kern dieser Arbeit zusammengefasst und selber als GENERAL STRIKE publiziert. Mit Dank an Hauser & Wirth. Erschienen in: Alexander Koch, KOW (Hg.), General Strike, KOW Issue 8, Berlin 2011

KOW Berlin

Cady Noland und Santiago Sierra gelten als zwei Schwergewichte, die Themen sozialer Gewalt frontal angegangen sind. Die US-Amerikanerin und der Spanier wurden jedoch nie zusammen gezeigt. Dank Leihgaben von Wilhelm Schürmann (Noland) wurde diese Ausstellung möglich. Kuratiert von Alexander Koch und Nikolaus Oberhuber

In the early 2010s, I collaborated with architect and urban planner Arno Brandlhuber on various projects. Here is a brief summary.

Published in: P/ART FOR Art, Berlin Biennale Newspaper 2011
Co-Author: Arno Brandlhuber
No English version available.

Around 2011, cultural and urban policy debates were running hot in Berlin. At that time, KOW worked together with the architect and urbanism thinker Arno Brandlhuber. From him came the impulse for this text, which we published together in the newspaper of the Berlin Biennale. I still carry the core argument with me today: The cultural administration cannot represent the artistic community, so it should refrain from making decisions that it cannot evaluate in terms of content.

Published in ARCH+ 201, Berlin, März 2011
No English version available.

Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
Mit Beatrice von Bismarck sowie Julie Ault, Christian Jankowski, Marion von Osten, Andreas Siekmann u.v.a.

KOW Berlin

In 2010, Franz Erhard Walther had yet to receive the acclaim that would later establish him as a contemporary classic. Our exhibition provided an introduction to his entire body of work, starting with his earliest, partly unknown pieces from the late 1950s and continuing through to more recent works from the 2000s. We placed particular emphasis on the design of the exhibition display, which echoed Walther’s material minimalism. Curated by Alexander Koch and Nikolaus Oberhuber.

Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig

Since 2007, I have been closely involved with the “New Patrons” in Germany and also in France. We conceived this exhibition to present exemplary projects from France, which were created in public and often rural spaces. Each room in the exhibition corresponded to a specific stage in the development of these projects. Featuring Studio Acconci, Steven Gontarsky, Tadashi Kawamata, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Alain Séchas, Xavier Veilhan, Rémy Zaugg, curated by Alexander Koch, Ilina Koralova, and Barbara Steiner

Als Berater von Katharina Grosse ging es mir mit dieser Publikation um ein diskursives Reframing ihres künstlerischen Werkes. Grosses Ausstellung in der Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin bot dafür Gelegenheit.
Ausstellungskatalog Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin. Mit Laura Bieger, Katja Blomberg, Ute Degner, Antje Dietze, Gerd G. Kopper, Alexander Koch. Konzept und Redaktion: Alexander Koch. Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther Konig, Köln 2009

Published as: KOW ISSUE 1, Alexander Koch, Nikolaus Oberhuber (eds.), Berlin 2009.

During this project, the term “Participatory Minimalism” seemed to me to apply well to Walther’s approach, but also to works such as those by Charlotte Posenenske and others. See also the exhibition of the same name at KOW.

KOW Berlin

The opening exhibition of our gallery KOW captured a historic moment. It looked at conceptual art from Leipzig during the second decade after reunification. Featuring Ramon Haze, Mario Pfeifer, Tina Schulz, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Tobias Zielony, Peggy Buth, Famed, Markus Dressen, Andreas Grahl, Henriette Grahnert, Eiko Grimmberg/Arthur Zalewski, Mark Hamilton, Ramon Haze, Oliver Kossack, Claudia Annette Maier, Ulrich Polster, Julius Popp, schau-vogel-schau (Marcel Bühler, Alexander Koch), Julia Schmidt, Tilo Schulz, spector cut+paste, Christoph Weber, curated by Alexander Koch and Nikolaus Oberhuber.

KOW Berlin

KOW’s first project focused on a single artwork—Walther’s Elfmeterbahn from 1963—and unfolded the visual-documentary history of its reception within the exhibition space. What becomes visible is a shift: starting from a very open and anarchistic understanding of the work, the perspective of its presentation gradually narrows and becomes more rigid. Concept and production: Alexander Koch and Nikolaus Oberhuber

Erschienen in: Performanzen des Nichttuns, Passagen Verlag, Wien 2008

Published in: Catalog XV BIENNALE DE PARIS, 2006

Mit Marius Babias, Beatrice von Bismarck, Alexander Koch und Stefan Roemer. Im Rahmen von “Randgang – Forum gegen Bildung- und Sozialabbau”, Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach

Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig
Mit Astrid Klein u.v.a.

Dies Buch war Ergebnis meiner 5-jährigen Zusammenarbeit mit Beatrice von Bismarck und vielen Gästen im Rahmen meiner Lehrtätigkeit an der Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig.
Kunst, Arbeit, Ausbildung und Ökonomie. Mit Helmut Draxler, Paul Kaiser, Renate Lorenz, Oliver Marchart, Marion von Osten, Stefan Römer, Holger Kube Ventura, Ulf Wuggenig, uva. Herausgegeben von Beatrice von Bismarck und Alexander Koch. Frankfurt a.M. 2005

Konzeptuelle und installative Kunstformen waren in Leipzig zu Beginn der 2000er Jahre frische, neue, experimentelle Arbeitsweisen. Diese Ausstellung gab einen teilweisen Überblick.
Der Sprung im Wasserglas. Verfahren im Raum. Ausstellungskatalog Kunstraum B/2, Leipzig. Mit Peggy Buth, Chat, Bertram Haude, Evelyn Jahns, Stephanie Kiwitt, Hans-Christian Lotz, Thomas Lüer, Regine Müller-Waldeck, Julius Popp. Michael Schade, Sascha Schiotella, Tina Schulz, Andreas Schulze, Jens Volz, Christoph Weber, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Arthur Zalewski. Herausgegeben von Alexander Koch & Ulrike Kremeier. Frankfurt/Main 2005

Published in: La Nouvelle Peinture Allemande. Carre d’Art, Musee d’Art contemporain, Nimes, 2005. Arles/ Paris, editions Actes Sud 2005, pp. 20-33
No English version available.

This text is a well-founded critical examination of the then still fresh phenomenon of new painting from East Germany at the beginning of the 2000s. Keyword: “New Leipzig School”. It caused us a lot of trouble. In fact, it is written in a cheeky to mean way. But that seemed appropriate to us. Christian Janecke, with whom I wrote the text, had taught art history in Dresden since the mid-1990s and I had studied painting there before moving to the HGB in Leipzig in 1996. So we were eyewitnesses and close to the action. I also knew Neo Rauch and especially his gallerist Judy Lybke well, I often slept in the warehouse of the Leipzig gallery Eigen+Art, where I was surrounded by paintings that are discussed here.

Kunstraum B/2, Leipzig

Mit Peggy Buth, Chat, Bertram Haude, Evelyn Jahns, Stephanie Kiwitt, Hans-Christian Lotz, Thomas Lüer, Regine Müller-Waldeck, Julius Popp, Michael Schade, Sascha Schniotalla, Tina Schulz, Andreas Schulze, Jens Volz, Christoph Weber, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Arthur Zalewski, kuratiert von Alexander Koch und Ulrike Kremeier

Published in: Kunstreport 03/04, Deutscher Künstlerbund, Berlin 2004

In 2004, the self-image and role model before curators were still in the midst of negotiation. The “profession” was still young, training programs were rare, and discourse on the subject was lively. One discussion was the extent to which artistic and curatorial work were or were not different. In the early 2000s, I was considered one of the first “artist curators,” which from today’s perspective was nonsense. Anyway, I was asked to write this text and made a statement that I still find interesting today. I drew on Edouard Manet to show how he gave painting an emancipatory self-confidence – a self-confidence that, in my view, was still lacking in curatorship and the medium of exhibition at the time.

Unfortunately, I have yet to find this old text again….
An English version is unexisting.

Katalogtext Stef Burghard, Galerie Just, Julia Stoschek, Düsseldorf 2004

In 2003, Jocelyn Wolff invited me to co-found a gallery in Paris with him. At the time, I was hesitant about becoming a gallerist—I wanted to remain an independent curator. But we worked together. I curated the artistic program and developed the design and discourse—the identity—of the gallery.

Galerie der HGB Leipzig

Ein Kooperationsprojekt des /D/O/C/K Projektbereich mit Marion von Osten

Galerie der HGB Leipzig

Ein Kooperationsprojekt des /D/O/C/K Projektbereich mit Andreas Siekmann
Mit Carl Andre, Alice Creischer, Douglas Huebler, El Lissitzky, Marion von Osten, Martha Rosler, Wilhelm Rudolph, Ingo Vetter & Annette Weisser, Clemens von Wedemeyer et al., kuratiert von Beatrice von Bismarck, Alexander Koch, Andreas Siekmann

Galerie der HGB Leipzig

Diese Ausstellung war der Beginn einer jahrelangen Arbeit über den “Ausstieg aus der Kunst”, die ich vor allem historisch und theoretisch betrieb. Sie war in methodisch wie thematisch ungewöhnlich – vor allem enthielt sie so gut wie keine “Werke”, bzw. Reproduktionen von solchen, die ich im Fotolabor oder auf Kopierern angefertigt hatte. Es war – absichtlich – eine Re/Konstruktion von größtenteils nicht vorhandenem Material, das als Erzählung arrangiert wurde. Nebenbei war die Ausstellung ein Beitrag zur Wiederentdeckung von Lee Lozano. Mit Arthur Cravan, Lee Lozano, Bas Jan Ader, Chris Burden. Till Gathmann trug als Grafiker und Typograf viel zur Form der Ausstellung bei.

Galerie im Parkhaus Berlin

This solo exhibition—part of a series of curatorial statements on the present—drew deeply from the toolbox of representational critique, with on-site production being highly performative. Featuring Arthur Zalewski and Jean-Luc Godard, Herbert Bayer, Catherine David, Beatrice von Bismarck, curated by Alexander Koch

Levels #4: Arthur Zalewski Ausstellungskatalog Galerie im Parkhaus Berlin Mit Arthur Zalewski und Herbert Bayer, Beatrice von Bismarck, Catherine David, Jean Luc Godard Kuratiert von Alexander Koch Herausgegeben von Ute Tischler Galerie im Parkhaus, Berlin 2001

Published in: Marcel Bühler, Alexander Koch (eds.), Art and Intercontextuality, Materials for the Symposium schau-vogel-schau, Cologne 2001.
No English version available.

In October 1998 Marcel Bühler and I opened the symposium we had developed on art and intercontextuality in Leipzig. “Intercontextuality” was a term we had invented to understand and conceptually describe “cross-border” tendencies in the art of the 1990s. In my opening speech I introduced this term.

Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig

For my first project in an institutional setting, I was primarily responsible for developing the discursive program and designed a corresponding timeline as a wall display. Featuring Frank Berger, Helmuth Berking, Nathan Coley, Waltraud Kokot, Martina Löw, Gitte Villesen, curated by Alexander Koch, Stefanie Sembill, and Tilo Schulz

Das gleichnamige Symposium von 1998 brachte den Begriff der Interkontextualität in die Diskussion. Mit der Publikation 2001 war das Projekt dann abgeschlossen.
Kunst & Interkontextualität. Mit Jean-Christophe Ammann, Bettina Allamoda, Christine Eichel, Hans Dieter Huber, Christian Janecke, Dietmar Kamper, Olaf Nicolai, Horst Prehn. Herausgegeben von Alexander Koch und Marcel Bühler. Salon Verlag, Berlin 2001

HGB Leipzig

Mit Helmut Draxler (Merz Akademie Stuttgart), Anna Harding (Goldsmith College London), Ulrike Kremeier (Freie Kuratorin/Plattform Berlin), Catherine Queloz (Sous-Sol Genf), Andreas Spiegl (Akademie für Bildende Künste Wien), Ulf Wuggenig (Kunstraum der Universität Lüneburg), Konzept und Moderation: Beatrice von Bismarck und Alexander Koch

Galerie Eigen+Art Leipzig

The first exhibition I curated was reviewed by Tim Sommer—now editor-in-chief of art magazine—in the Leipziger Volkszeitung under the headline: “Curator Alexander Koch’s Hanging Orgy Leads Nowhere.” Maybe he was right? As my exhibition text still shows, the focus was on curatorial transparency and a critique of autonomy. Featuring Antje Blumenstein, Marcel Bühler, Oliver Croy, Thomas Fißler, Achim Kobe, Karsten Konrad, Ute Lindner, Thomas Lüer, Barbara Steppe, Tilo Schulz, Ulrike Kremeier, curated by Alexander Koch

Am 16. und 17. Oktober 1998 fand in der Alten Handelsbörse Leipzig dieses Symposium statt, an dem ich parallel zu meinem Studium gemeinsam mit Marcel Bühler zwei Jahre lang gearbeitet hatte. Wir waren sehr jung und unerfahren – aber es gelang uns, selbstorganisiert das erste große Kunsttheoriesymposium in Ostdeutschland seit der Wende zu entwickeln und zu veranstalten. Ich erfand den Begriff der “Interkontextualität”, der inhaltlich im Zentrum stand. Im Anschluss an dieses Projekt war mir klar, dass ich als Vermittler (Kurator) weiterarbeiten würde, nicht länger als Künstler.